Disappearance: REWRITE
by Mitsukiharu
Summary: Legendaries once resided with humans until war and despair turned Johto into a wasteland 150 years ago. Five years after Red was defeated, he and the Green must find the cause of the legendary pokemon's disappearances or the world would be thrown into disarray. NOTE: Aside the first two chapters, REWRITE is completely different from the original.
1. Prologue

Prologue

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**Japanese Names:**

Jun = Barry (rival from Pokémon Diamond/Pearl/Platinum)

Professor Nanakamado = Professor Rowan

Kouki = Lucas (male protagonist from DPP)

Hikari = Dawn (female protagonist from DPP)

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**Important Notes Before You Read: **The story was revised to elaborate more on the plot and to make the characters more three dimensional. New scenes and plots have been added along with rewriting scenes to match the new characterization and plots. Please read this story from the very beginning; the revision barely resembles the original version. Characters will all be referred to by their Japanese names due to future contents that will appear in the work. Please enjoy reading our work! :D

**Disclaimer:**We do not own Pokémon in any shape or form. Pokémon rightfully belongs to Satoshi Tajiri, Game Freak, and Nintendo. We only own the plot of this fanfic. Characters are a mix of OC and game characters. Game characters' personalities are loosely based off of the game's counterparts. The cover picture also does not belong to us and is drawn by Nintendo's Ken Sugimori.

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Blood painted the cold stone floor. Roars and screeches left a haunting echo at the peak of Spear Pillar. The brilliant pearly shine that once gleamed proudly within the gem on its arm had already considerably faded as the crimson liquid steadily flowed down due to gravity. Its voice could no longer form words as it screamed out in pain and suffering. Another being stood tall before the pitiable pink figure, as if mocking.

_Down so soon?_ It bellowed. Unlike the injured one's, the other had a calm and collected growl, as if to brag of victory. Its pale blue gem middle of its chest sparkled brightly. _Did that battle with that mere human really bring you down this low? Imagine, the mighty Palkia! On his knees and hands, begging for his current incarnation to be spared. Your struggle was pointless and shameful._

The fatally injured legendary Pokémon only cried out of pain. Its tone begging.

… _Be glad that my own current incarnation is merciful;_ the rival spoke with a low and serious voice. _I'll answer your cries._

The steel plated blue Pokémon took stance, legs apart and knees slightly bent. It lifted its head to face the sky as it took a deep breath before it snapped forward and roared. Sparks of light encircled the legendary Pokémon before being released in bursts of energy. Dialga used Roar of Time!

Palkia allowed the attack connect, not making a single move to dodge whatsoever. It hardly held up its head to its incoming fate. It felt the force of Dialga's attack but didn't feel anything as he slammed against an already broken pillar. The Spatial Pokémon instead looked up at its powerful rival with a peaceful gaze. Its body slowly disintegrated, turning into dust as the wind picked up speed and blew away the once legendary being's remains from the peak of Mt. Coronet.

_May your time with Arceus be short, but blissful? I await your next incarnation,_ Dialga murmured to the fading winds. With a great sigh, filled with both sorrow and the acceptance of boredom, the Temporal Pokémon slowly turned away from the cliff of the half destroyed pillar.

"Waaaaait!" A voice called out from the edge of the cliff.

_You're still alive?_ The legendary Pokémon screeched with anger. It snapped around in time to see a teenage girl shakily drag herself up from the ledge.

The young trainer was no more than fifteen years old and had ridiculously long, uneven jet black hair that reached to the bottom of her calves. She wore a pair of dark blue shorts and a long black t-shirt with sleeves that went down to her elbows. She also had on a metallic silver hooded vest with little pokeballs hanging down from the cords of her hood.

"Did you just kill Palkia?" She asked with a horrified expression as she struggled to catch her breath. She took a few steps forward towards the nearest broken pillar and flopped down against it. "So that's how a legendary Pokémon dies... Actually, after that first Roar of Time, I thought _I_ was going to die..." The teenager wiped a bit of dirt and grime layered on her clothes and skin, a sign that she had been traveling in the mountains for some time.

_Which you should have._ It growled dangerously. _You humans never seem to die easily. _He growled. _ You are worse than the Magikarp. _

"If I could simply die without harming anyone or anything, believe me, I would have done myself in a long time ago," she chuckled darkly. The holes and rips on her clothes made her appearance more surprising for the legendary Pokémon when she had first appeared in between its fight with Palkia.

_Would you like me to kill you for you? _

"Ah, no... That would be very problematic." The teenager smirked. She swiftly withdrew a black pokeball designed with blue bubbles, gave it a spinning toss into the air as she caught it with a downwards sweep of her arm and looked up at the giant legendary Pokémon before asking, "Is there any way you'd let me catch you without having to battle? I feel bad enough that I missed the chance to get Palkia before you killed it..."

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Veilstone City

"Where is he?" The boy asked to no one in particular. He impatiently glanced at his Poke-etch to check the time. "He said he would be here at 12:30. It's 12:34 PM!" the teen grumbled. "He's late!"

His Infernape stopped itself from sighing. He watched his trainer rub his messy blonde hair for the umpteenth time today. It looked as if he woke up late that day and rolled out of his bed without caring. Puberty emphasized his tall awkward figure, two long arms that dangled on the sides, unsure of what to do. The teen started rocking in place before he decided to pace within seconds. He wore a striped shirt with a green scarf wrapped around his neck.

"All I said was that the legendaries have gone missing..." He mumbled. Infernape grunted at his trainer. Seconds later, he grabbed at his hair and mentally screamed while throwing his head back to face the sky, asking quite loudly why wasn't the trainer there yet. He didn't notice the tourists staring at him for his eccentric behavior. Their brightly patterned clothes made them stand out like a flock of Chatots.

Jun, resident of Twinleaf Town, was standing in front of the Veilstone Game Corner of Veilstone City. The person he was supposed to meet up with requested that specific area. Said that the place was so crowded from the tourists and gamblers that it would hide their conversation. Veilstone City was an isolated city that seemed to separate itself from the rest of the region, although the newly built Game Corner seemed to have brought in more tourists in the last few years. Carved out of steep mountains, the city rightfully earned its name and stood quietly at the northeastern portion of Sinnoh.

A week ago, the impatient trainer loudly complained to a Pokémon professor that a legendary Pokémon disappeared off the map. That caught the attention of a strange trainer, who was listening in to the conversation. The mysterious trainer quickly introduced himself and asked, more like demanded, the surprised boy to exchange phone numbers and to arrange a meeting to find out more about the disappearance of the Pokémon.

"Be careful, boy." Professor Nanakamado looked at Jun with concern. He eyed the stranger from the distance. "He could be trouble."

"Sure, sure," he replied as he sprinted out the door without so much of a good-bye. It's not like the guy was from Team Galactic or anything, he reasoned.

Jun went along with the arranged meeting and chose to go to Veilstone today. It wasn't like he had anything else to do. The blond teen tried to phone the trainer, but no one answered. The blond teen tried to phone the trainer, but was met with the answering machine. Jun glared at the digital device on his wrist as he hung up the call to try again, as if doing so would make the other side of the call answer. He remembered the mysterious trainer having a similar device as his, but it was bigger and it wasn't worn like a watch.

"What the hell is he-" The boy moaned.

"Sorry," a person said to him abruptly. "Got lost." The unknown person said the two sentences quickly and quietly, as if fearing that someone would hear him. He joined the trainer underneath the shade of the Game Corner, sliding his palms inside his jean pockets. He leaned on the side of the building to catch his breath.

"You're late!" Jun immediately accused him, pointing at the trainer.

He didn't bother to deny Jun's accusation. The stranger did not say anything more and waited. He stretched out his hand, demanding the reason of their meeting: information.

The Sinnoh trainer didn't have to guess what the mysterious trainer was waiting for. Jun said, "Disappeared, ok? Giratina and Dialga are gone. Dialga just disappeared a few days ago, right after Palkia was wiped off the map." He folded his arms and waited for his reaction.

"...gone?" The person whispered. If Jun didn't see that his lips were moving, he wouldn't have caught what the stranger said. The person's voice was barely audible. His red and white cap was tilted down, so Jun couldn't see his face properly. It was hard to determine how old the mysterious trainer was. His voice sounded young, so the Jun guessed that he was still in his teens.

Jun nodded. He gulped and uttered, "I was back at home when I was checking my Pokedex. Just wanted to see where Giratina was that day. Haven't seen it for years. Wanted to make sure Team Galactic wasn't trying to catch it again." His voice carried off into the loud chatter around them. He spoke very quickly, ending each sentence with a short small sigh. The stranger chose not to make a comment about it. He hadn't said much in general. The blonde saw that this conversation could quickly become one sided and asked, "How are you?"

He shrugged and signaled so-so with his hand. His Pokémon beside him cried out its name, looking gloomy of their apparent unsuccessful search.

"The other legendaries are still here," Jun added, hoping to make the guy feel better. His Pokémon looked depressed. "I just went back to check on them."

The stranger nodded.

"My other friends said that they'll both be searching the other areas too." He continued without stopping, "You probably want to know if we caught the culprit, but no. We don't even know what the person looks like. Could be an old insane guy for all we know... Those legendaries just went missing one day, leaving no trace behind."

The mysterious person gave the trainer a puzzled look. 'No evidence left behind?' his expression seemed to ask.

Jun shook his head. "Whoever made them disappear made sure to hide their trace. I don't think even the professor knows if a person caused this or that the Pokémon themselves moved away for some other reason."

The person nodded again. "That's all?" He looked at Jun expectantly.

"That's all I can say," the trainer showed his two empty hands at him. "I have nothing else I can tell you. You can ask Kouki and Hikari if you want. They might know more."

"I'm leaving," the stranger said suddenly, nodding at teen as a good bye.

The blond trainer waved at the odd trainer. "I guess your search was useless?" He said lamely, feeling like their meeting ended on an awkward note. It was as comfortable as talking at a funeral.

"No," he shook his head. "It's enough." Before the boy could ask what he meant, the stranger left.

Jun watched the trainer walk out of the shade to step back into the sun. His pale skin made him blend well with the Sinnoh citizens, but his dialect made him sound like he was from somewhere else. The boy stared down at the concrete. What was going to happen to those legendaries? He sighed and mumbled a few words to himself. When he looked back up after a few seconds, he saw that the stranger was already gone, somewhere in the midst of the crowd.

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**Author's Notes: **Hope you enjoyed the prologue of this story. As we mentioned before, this is a collaboration story of two authors. We have a beta reader as well. Question of the chapter: Just who is that mysterious trainer talking to Jun? Constructive criticism and comments are appreciated. Find out in the next chapter of Disappearance! See you next time!


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

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**Japanese Names:**

Green Ookido = Blue Oak (rival from Pokemon Red/Blue/Green/Yellow/Firered/Leafgreen)

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**Disclaimer: **We do not own pokemon. This fanfic is written for enjoyment not for profit. Pokemon belongs to Satoshi Tajiri, Game Freak, and Nintendo. The cover picture also does not belong to us and is drawn by Nintendo's Ken Sugimori.

* * *

"We're leaving Sinnoh," he announced a few days back. It was a hard pressed fact. No arguments. "We no longer have any business here." It wasn't like there were any other options or methods to disagree with him. Within hours, they flew to a warmer continent with certain ambitions in mind. The mask man didn't seem to notice that the Heavy Ball containing Dialga on his belt was wobbling violently from the aggressive pokemon's rage.

A few hours into the next day, without warning, a loud and messy splash rippled the lake within the deep forest of Ilex forest. Bubbles violently popped up from the initial point of impact before a young girl with black hair surfaced, struggling in the deep body of water. A loud machine roared above her, its driver completely ignoring the welfare of the teenager.

She haphazardly splashed about, unable to properly keep herself above water. She pulled a Pokeball on her belt, throwing it in the air. A Feebas shot out from the red beam and immediately helped its trainer from drowning. The aircraft flew away, not giving a damn about whether or not its former passenger was okay.

_Satsuki!_ The water Pokemon called out as it clumsily kept itself and the girl from dipping under.

Its small fins propelled the water as it swam through the calm lake. Due to it not actually knowing the hidden move known as Surf, the transportation was a struggle as it practically crawled through the lake and towards shore. The pokemon itself was not native to this particular region. It had a similar appearance of a small fish wearing too many layers of makeup with a permanent gloomy expression.

_Why would you jump into the middle of the lake if you couldn't swim? _It asked her as she choked out the remaining fluid from her lungs.

"I didn't jump," its trainer gagged. She held onto the barely one foot tall fish, careful not to scrape off its scales. "I was rudely shoved off while I was asleep." She whipped her long hair aside to see where she was. "Ilex Forest?" she questioned rhetorically. I didn't realize that the time would come so soon, she thought to herself.

_He just pushed you off? What if you died? _The Feebas panicked out loud.

Feebas looked at its trainer with worry. The fish pokemon was somewhat aware of what happened before it was called out of the capsule. Although Feebas was capable of seeing outside of its pokeball, all it saw were dark shadows moving around with sounds and voices being muffled in the backgrounds. The fish pokemon came out of its pokeball expecting its trainer to be alright, safe on land, and ready to command it. It wasn't expecting to be saving its trainer from drowning.

"Celebi and Suicine this time..." She said to herself in a whisper. Satsuki reminded Feebas, "You are here."

_That's not the point..._ Her Feebas argued the already losing battle.

"It doesn't matter, I'm here and alive, aren't I? Now lets get to shore... The water is freezing..."

Being the recent addition to the team, the painted fish asked its trainer,_ Did Entei come with us this time? _

They were now a few meters away from the edge of the shore. Feebas spied a few bug and water pokemon nearby. Judging by the sun, it was still morning, a little before lunch, the fish thought. The fish thanked its lucky stars that its trainer wasn't thrown into a deeper body of water like the ocean. Being a water pokemon, Feebas thought it was odd for some humans to be incapable of swimming, but it never questioned why its trainer couldn't.

"Of course. How else am I supposed to go after the time traveling Pokemon and his brother?" Satsuki said nonchalantly. "He always does..." Which meant there was going to be a fight as always, she thought bitterly. The image of the blood painted floor was still vivid in her mind.

_Sweet land, sorry it took so long,_ the Feebas whined as the two reached the sand.

"It's fine. There is no way for me to actually be able to teach you Surf..." She then said before Feebas opened her mouth. "We're not going to the gym. Sorry Fial..."

_No problem. It just means I'm going to be a bit slower than most Pokemon, _she answered as cheerfully as she possibly could, but Satsuki knew better. Swimming on a Pokemon that didn't know Surf would not only be extremely slow, it becomes a struggle for the water Pokemon, just so it can swim and also to keep its rider from swallowing water.

"You are fine the way you are." Satsuki said firmly. "I told you, you are the best thing that I gotten since Hoenn." The raven haired teen felt her legs sliding over sand. It was shallow enough for an adult to swim in comfortably.

_That's because I was the only one that came to you. _ Fial said sadly. Feebas came to that area because of lack of competition for food. The fish pokemon sighed as they finally made it to the shore. Feebas moved helplessly at the shallow sandy waters. _The Magikarp were right, I am stupid. _

"Don't you dare say that about yourself," the teenager snapped, scolding the modest fish. "If you were stupid, then I bet that you would have wound up in the ocean where you didn't belong rather than that river. Take a break, return!"

The fish looked uncertain as it returned to the red capsule. Satsuki sighed, as she dragged her drenched self into the forest. She finally stopped at a small clearing; tall and fresh grass swayed gently though the wind. She settled herself down on fallen log on the edge, closer to the dense dark trees of the famous Ilex Forest.

_You're not ready_, a soft melodic voice whispered. A small white figure the size of a doll sat by Satsuki's side. Her green hair hid her shy face; her red horns on her head glowed as she talked. It was easy to forget that Ralts often Teleported everywhere and her entries were quiet and unnoticeable.

"I haven't been here for five years," Satsuki admitted with a small voice. She looked up to see two Teddiursas wrestle around in front of her. Without acknowledging her presence, they rolled through the grass and right through a small berry bush, leaving her alone with her psychic Pokemon once again. "Of course I'm not. I'm so close to _home_, but I can't go back. I wonder if anyone still remembers me."

_No one will forget you, _Ralts sounded very sure of herself. _You are the kindest trainer I have met. I wouldn't have came to you if you weren't so. _She recalled the time when she woke up from her nap to discover the teenage girl running away from her. It was an odd situation where the pokemon pursued the trainer.

"I am an orphan and had to take care of myself alone in that small, but such a large house." Satsuki looked up at the big tree above her. "Who would remember a child that hardly went out if that child were to just disappear one day?"

_No one is ever truly forgotten,_ the Feeling pokemon said wisely. _Everyone leaves something behind, whether its their pokemon, family, friends, or influence. We all have legacies. _

"I don't have a family and my only friends were children themselves," The girl briefly thought of her friends but shook her head. That was the past. Satsuki sighed right as she heard a whisper from the winds. She snapped her head towards her right, listening. She whispered to her Ralts, "I hear it... Return Hinata."

As soon as the Feeling Pokemon was completely stored into its Pokeball, the teenager whipped out another, and called out, "Entei, it's here!"

Entei's red eyes grew visible behind his crimson mask as he emerged majestically. The legendary beast bore a golden crest on its forehead and had a smokey gray mustache that kept its mouth hidden from view. The black cuffs on its ankles clanged as it landed steadily by the trainer on its fours.

A little green pokemon with a head three times larger than its body lazily flew out from their left, completely unaware of two watching its every movement. It spun around the clearing for a few seconds as Satsuki mounted the legendary dog. It finally opened its eyes after singing a tune to see Entei crouching down to pounce.

_Well this doesn't look good,_ it peeped, then suddenly bolted back into the forest. _What is Entei doing here in_ _I-_? It wondered out loud, but didn't have the chance to express it before crying out.

"Let's go!" she commanded as the fire pokemon leaped into a sprint. "We can't let it get away!"

_Celebi!_ Entei roared as sparks flew around him. He jumped into the air to pounce at the small grass type. _There's no point in running off! We both know who has the advantage in this fight! _He nearly knocked the pokemon onto the ground before Celebi moved a little to the right to avoid getting crushed.

The time travel pokemon closed its eyes as its body began to glow. Its green head was tilted back as Celebi gazed at the sky above him. Entei and its trainer quickly noticed that the trees around them shimmered with a light blue glow.

"It's trying to travel through time," Satsuki realized and turned to the volcano pokemon. "Entei, quick! Stop it before it escapes!"

Entei spat out a thin line of a flames at Celebi to form a ring of fire around it. Hot white flames encircled the time traveling pokemon, trapping it from escape. The fire type watched it fly around helplessly within the limited space as the forest grew warmer from the fire's intensity.

_Owwww! My foot is on fire! _The little pokemon cried out as it danced impatiently into the nearest pool of water. It launched itself into a small puddle and stomped out the flames. Its shoulders slouched over in relief, _Phew, no more fire~_

Celebi's eyes flashed blue and summoned leaves from the ground and trees. It used its psychic powers to send the leaves flying at its predators.

"Hinata, use Disable!" The trainer's Ralts came out of its pokeball and halted Celebi from moving. "Ugh, can't just one pokemon stay still for once?" Satsuki asked out loud, her tone grim. Her hair was unevenly cut, full of leaves from the green pokemon's attack.

_You took out Entei to go after me!_ The little thing whined, backing into a thick tree.

"How else was I supposed to keep up with you? I can't fly over roots and tree stumps!"

_You could have flew on a Pidgey,_ Celebi frowned. _I see it happen all the time. _In fact, it once recalled seeing a person flying with a Pikachu. The electric rodent was holding onto a bunch of balloons.

"I... Don't have... A damn Pidgey!" the trainer gritted, hearing the phrase more than three times in the past five years. "And even if I did, it wouldn't know the move Fly!"

_You are in no position to argue when you're injured. _ Entei said, looking at the badly burned grass pokemon. _Where is Suicune? I sense my brother's presence in this forest._ It demanded to know. Entei thought he saw a blaze of blue pass by the corner of his eye earlier.

_That's enough, Entei. _ A blue leopard like pokemon appeared in front of the fire type. Its violet mane flowed in the wind. _What brought you back here? _ It leered its red eyes at Entei with suspicion.

The little green pokemon slipped behind the water dog and closed its eyes as its body glowed momentary. The sound of a clear bell chimed in time with the pokemon rocking itself back and forth. When it returned to normal, the burns had vanished. Celebi opened its eyes again and bore its bright blue eyes at the legendary beast. Its savior was taller than the average man. The glares Entei and Suicune were sending to each other made the time traveling pokemon nervous.

_Don't protect me,_ Celebi said to the aurora pokemon.

_You are the spirit of the forest!_ Suicune scolded the forest sprite. He saw passed Entei that the forest pokemon were timidly scurrying away for shelter. _Ilex Forest needs you!_

_There are times when some of us legendaries need to come together to stop disasters from coming. _ The time pokemon sighed. Its fragile wings fluttered weakly. _My time has come. Your's however, has not._ _You need to tell Ho-Oh... _

Satsuki's head snapped up in surprise as she exclaimed, "Ho-Oh? You know where Ho-Oh is?"

_I'm sorry young human, but not even I know where Ho-Oh is. Father loves to fly around a lot._ Suicune tossed its tangled mane in the air. The gentle wind played its white tails that were fluttering along with its long mangled mane. Wherever the pokemon's paws touched left small shards of dew on the soft grass. It was well aware of how much attention it was getting and seemed to be soaking up every moment of it. The girl opened her mouth before shutting it, as if eager to hear more from the aurora pokemon.

_As much as I would love to stay here to chat, oh my, look at time. _ Suicune stage whispered and made a stance, all fours spread out with his head tipped down at the ground. The forest grew misty with fog gradually clouding the floor. It slowly fade away against the white fog. _Though, even if I did know, there is no reason to be telling you. _Its normally drawling voice suddenly snarled on the last few words. The trainer could hear it nimbly move around in the misty clouds.

Celebi, on the other hand, stared at the fog where he thought Suicune was. _You can hear us? _It was referring to Satsuki. Beforehand, Celebi was too shocked from the sudden attack to notice it. It only noticed when Suicune came to its rescue to slow down time. Time for it to make its move.

_That won't be the last human to be able to_, Satsuki and Entei heard him laugh. Its laugh was soft and pleasant. It didn't match with the atmosphere. _There are whispers of another man somewhere else holding the same talent. _ His laughter echoed through the forest. The fog quietly disappeared with the aurora pokemon nowhere to be seen. The only proof of Suicune's entry was the dew left on the grass and trees.

"Aaaand he left." Satsuki puffed out a breath, half annoyed and secretly relieved. Although she had no device to tell her, Suicune's attitude and body language gave off the air that it was just as strong as Entei. "I guess we have to go spend the next two days chasing him down..."

_And Celebi?_ The volcano pokemon muttered a little too loudly. Without a second thought, the time traveling pokemon dashed out from the scene again. Satsuki watched Celebi struggle to fly back to the deeper part of the forest. One of its wings was injured. It was almost painful to see it fly but constantly floating off course to one side.

"You had to say something?" Satsuki sighed as the two chased after it for the second time that day.

* * *

Viridian Gym

Viridian City, a city found at the edge of Viridian Forest, a bug trainer's paradise. Viridian City is located near the Pokemon League entrance and was home to the Trainer House and a pokemon gym. The Trainer House not only acted as a place for trainers to stay overnight and battle, but was also home to the Pokemon League Association, an organization that was in charge of the regulations on pokemon gyms and pokemon treatment. All seemed well, until a loud screech pierced the once quiet neighborhood, which sent several Pidgeys and Spearows squawking out of the trees in annoyance. Several townspeople chose to ignore the disturbance. The commotion was not foreign to the citizens of Viridian City.

"My Raticate!"

The person facing opposite to the source of the cry had to stop himself from sighing with boredom. His face was hidden by the darkness of the gym, but he was clearly struggling to stay neutral on the battle's results. The only source of light was from the neon lights patterned on the floor and sides of the building.

"My Raticate is the top percentage of all Raticates!" The person continued to sob as he hugged the husky brown rodent in his arms. He quietly murmured something before becoming silent. A small clicking sound echoed within the building; soft red light quickly lit up the dark room. The person was recalling his knocked out companion.

"Youngster Joey is out of Pokemon! Youngster Joey blacked out!" A man clad in blinding yellow, the referee, announced.

"I did not black-out!" the teenage boy protested, although he did look exhausted from the match. His voice cracked from frustration from straining his voice. His yellow shirt was drenched with sweat.

The gym leader didn't bother with any attempts of reassuring the childish trainer. This was all a routine. The young boy lost today, just as he did yesterday. And last week. And the week before that... Despite protests from the Trainer House, the gym leader held a strong policy of only battling trainers who have obtained seven badges. It was anyone's guess how the youngster trainer made it so far with so few pokemon. He reluctantly waited for the boy to quiet down.

"If you want to beat me," the gym leader finally spoke after an awkward pause, "Go re-learn the fundamentals. Maybe then, you will have a better chance of defeating me."

If the words were meant to make the trainer feel any better, his words had failed. Joey replied with a sniffle before glaring at the gym leader. The older trainer glared back. So much for the assumption that those who made it to seven badges would take defeats more maturely.

"My Raticate is the best of all Raticate," the youngster said thickly; he felt sick. His stomach protested.

"If you think that's going to convince me of giving you a badge, you're hoping for too much."

"I -" Thud! The youngster collapsed from exhaustion, he was still clutching onto his only pokeball.

Once again, the room was silent before the man in the yellow shirt sighed, "Another trainer fainted."

"They always black out when they lose," the gym leader said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"What will I tell the nurse?" the referee asked.

The other coolly responded, "The same as usual." The referees nodded and lift the boy to take him to the nearest hospital.

The referee knew it was pointless to ask the gym leader to go easier on the trainers. The man had worked for the previous gym leader, and the last one wasn't easily swayed. The referee wasn't expecting the new gym leader to be more easy going. He also knew that most gym leaders found it an insult to go easy on challengers. That was the general attitude of most trainers anyway.

Once the referee and the boy left, Green Ookido finally sighed in relief. It was eerily quiet, but a hint of someone's presence lingered within the gym. There was only one person the gym leader knew who could walk that quietly. He blinked for a few seconds before finally saying, "Red, I know you're in here."

His answer was silence. The dark room was still from the end of the battle. There was no one inside the building except Green and a few of the junior trainers, who were still taking a sip of their coffee, barely awake in the cold foggy morning. It was hard to see much inside the room. The neon lights only shone enough to see what was a few feet in front of you. He heard footsteps approaching.

"What is it?" His heart stopped. Why would he be here?

"They're acting odd."

"Who is acting odd?" His quiet breathing was barely audible.

"The pokemon. The legendaries are missing."

* * *

**Author Notes: **Yes, there will be legendary pokemon battles, with more personality and dialogue~ It would be rather boring to watch multiple fights with legendaries of the same personality, wouldn't it? Question of the chapter: Which legendary pokemon do you like so far in the story and why? Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Remember to add a comment below. Until next time, see you later!


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

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**Japanese Names:**

Akane = Whitney

Green Ookido = Blue Oak (rival from Pokemon Red/Green/Blue/Yellow/FireRed/Leafgreen)

Blue = Leaf (female protagonist from Pokemon FireRed/Leafgreen)

* * *

**Disclaimer:**The only thing we own in this fanfic is our own original characters and the personalities we projected onto the characters and pokemon. All items, actual locations, people, and pokemon belong to POKEMON and we are making this for simple and pure free entertainment and enjoyment. So please, do not go and copyright us. Thank you. The cover picture also does not belong to us and is drawn by Nintendo's Ken Sugimori.

* * *

Village

"Where are the pokeballs?" A young dark blue haired girl cried as she ran her hand through her yellow bag.

"Introducing the new Pokegear generation 5.0!" The male announcer blared that sunny summer afternoon. The sound was coming from a small television that was propped on a shelf in the living room. "Now selling at a more affordable price for trainers everywhere! Buy them now! They are customizable and come in multiple colors!"

"I thought I bought some yesterday," she mumbled as a brown fox like pokemon walked into the teenage girl's room. The evolution pokemon flicked its bushy tail as it watched its trainer frantically turning her head around the messy room. "You know where they are, Asahi?"

"Eee, vee, ee..." _They're...over there..._ The female pokemon nodded her head and waved her paws at the foot of the door. The girl continued searching through the room, looking under the textbooks scattered across the room. Pokemon plushies were dumped atop of her bed with smiles on their faces.

"Silph Co. has designed them to withstand the harsh conditions of long journeys! They are waterproof, fireproof, electric proof..."

"Where?" She bent down and saw them. "Oh, I see them, thanks Asahi!" The girl pets the small fox and stuffed the pokeballs in her bag. Eevee beamed but abruptly froze and twitched her ears.

"...Snorlax proof, underwater pressure proof, and even extreme radiation proof! It can survive the aftermath from a nuclear bomb! All just for...!"

"Vee?" Asahi stood on her hind legs in attempt to pick up the sound over the obnoxious television.

"Chihaaaru!" The wooden door slammed open to show a boy, who appeared to be a few years younger than the girl, come in. "There you are!" He had messy brown hair and was still wearing his school uniform with a soccer ball in his arm.

The girl huffed, "Keigo? Why aren't you in school?" She flicked her short braided ponytail in annoyance. "What are you doing here?"

The girl checked the clock hanging above her desk near the window. It was only eleven in the morning. She wasn't ready to deal with people. The high school girl woke up this morning, ate breakfast, and pretended to walk to school midway before going back home. She had to make sure her parents were gone. Her father always left the house early, but her mother...

"Class got canceled," he sneered. "You're going to leave again, aren't you?"

"How did you know?"

"How would anyone not know? You're packing!" the kid stuck his tongue out at her indignantly. "And your stupid friend is here!" He pointed to another girl behind the door with him, who was out of her usual high school uniform, but was wearing black shorts and a long pink shirt instead. Her calves clomped on the ground as she approached the doorway.

"Mirei!" Chiharu cried. "Why did you bring him here?"

"I didn't!" The brunette looked unhappy and stared down at her boots. "He saw me and followed!"

Chiharu saw another Eevee peaking behind her friend and hopped happily to her Eevee to chat. "Vee, vee! Eeee!" _Hi little sister! Hiii! _The Eevee pounced on his sister with joy.

"Eevee..." _Not now, Leo..._ Asahi mumbled and glanced at the arguing teenagers. She stayed close to her trainer. Leo gave her a questioning look, but got distracted by his own tail and chased it, trying to catch it with his paws.

"Are you ready to go yet?" Mirei asked. Her long side ponytail bobbed as she nodded to her friend's bag.

"You're leaving today?" Keigo whined. "But what about my birthday party next week?"

"You hang out with your friends for your birthdays," his sister accused him while petting the two Eevees beside her.

"If you leave, I'll tell mom!" He yelled and pointed at her.

"You can't do that," Mirei laughed. "We're still going to leave. Telling her never stopped us." In fact, there was one time when she and Chiharu went far enough to Violet City and even defeated the gym leader there before they were found by her aunt and uncle, who was passing by after a business trip.

"Oh, so you'll tell her." The blue haired girl sighed dramatically. She picked up a pokeball and then said, "If you tell her, I guess I won't let you borrow my Machoke..." Chiharu put a few potions in the bag along with a few TMs she had bought for her and Mirei.

The boy's reaction was instantaneous with eyes bulged out. "W-what?" His voice cracked. "You can't do that! I need that Machoke to defeat Akane!" He cringed at the thought of having to battle the Goldenrod City gym leader again.

"Too bad," Mirei retorted. "It doesn't look like Chiharu will let you borrow him if you're going to get in our way."

"But...the gym leader! Her Miltank is horrible!" He cried. "It keeps spamming Attract on my team and flattens them with Roll Out!" The image of the giant black and pink cow appeared in Mirei's head with hearts flying out to flatten Keigo's team with a huge crunching noise.

"Rotate your pokemon in and out of battle until she runs out of moves?" Mirei suggested while chuckling at her own imagination of the cow pokemon, although the actual battle with the red-headed gym leader wasn't funny business. That Miltank was no joke.

_There we go_, Chiharu thought as she finished packing in the last few items before turning to her younger brother with a sly grin. "Tell you what; I'll let you have Machoke on two conditions." She held out two fingers in the air. "One: You let us go and don't tell mom. Two: You have to look after the ranch."

The boy groaned. "I have to look after your dumb ranch again? Stop catching so many pokemon! We're running out of room!" The idea of having to rotate Chiharu's PC everyday to feed and let the pokemon roam was troublesome and unnecessary. Some of the pokemon had little fights between themselves and would disappear for short periods of time in the forest before coming back at sunset.

"But I need to catch them to study them to become a pokemon professor!" She cried. "They need to get fresh air and exercise!"

"You don't need to release them every day! Everyone else just keeps them in the PC!"

Chiharu huffed and reminded him, "And remember to have the normal, dark, and ghost types out on Monday. Fire and dragon on Tuesday. Water and ice on..."

"Yeah, yeah, the usual." He plugged his ears.

Mirei tapped her foot with irritation and demanded, "So is that a yes or a no?"

"Fine!" the boy gave an exasperated sigh. He knew he had no other choice if he wanted to have any chance at finally defeating Akane.

"Great! Machoke will be pleased to hear that," Chiharu clapped her hands and beamed. "He has been flexing his muscles all day and nods when I mention your name." She heard her Eevee groan at the mention of the Machoke, who was a showoff and enjoyed the attention from the other pokemon.

"Really?" The brunette girl tilted her head. "I guess he must be that excited to meet his new trainer." Keigo mumbled. Chiharu slid on her short sleeved hoodie over her black shirt before putting on her brown hiking shoes. She bought that hoodie specifically because it resembled a Premier Ball, her favorite kind of Pokeball. It was white on the outside but had a red zipper and the inside of the hoodie was red.

"Here's your Machoke." His sister placed the red capsule in his palm. "Take care of him."

As Mirei and Chiharu left the house with their bags and pokemon, Mirei shouted "I can't believe how stubborn your brother can be!"

The other girl rolled her eyes, "That's my brother, all right. Can't believe we nearly got caught again."

"Vee, Eevee, Eevee, Eve, Vee-!" Leo yelped, running alongside with his trainer, Mirei. _Hey, the other day, I was practicing my Shadow Ball, very pretty you know, and-_

"Eevee!" Asahi, who was also running with her trainer, interrupted her brother. _I don't care! _

"What are they talking about?" Mirei wondered out loud as they ran past the Pokemart they went to the other day to stock items for the trip. That day, she felt the clerk's eyes falling on them with an all-knowing look of what they were up to. They were the Eevee girls, the girls who kept running away at the beginning of every trimester. They even got discounts on items because of how often they went there, thanks to Chiharu who always needed to restock on Pokeballs.

"No clue," Chiharu said. They picked up the pace and raced further into the forest, disappearing from view without looking back to where they came from.

* * *

Later that day, the sun was nearly down and the nocturnal pokemon were already coming out of their resting place. Mirei felt the cool summer breeze blow over their heads as she and Chiharu were walking through the thick concentrated area of trees. She saw several Hoothoot fly over the trees and a Stantler walking by on its way to a small lake nearby. The trainer squinted to make out the shapes of what was in front of her.

"It's pretty chilly for July," Mirei commented and rubbed her hands together for heat. She had low tolerance for the cold and dug into her bag for her sweater.

"Nido, Nido, Rina." The short girl's Nidorina said quietly. Nidorina was a small turquoise colored pokemon that walked on her fours with fangs and poisonous horns. _I would hug you, but I'm afraid that won't work. _

"Ruff, ruff!" Chiharu's Growlithe said happily and pounced on the complaining trainer. _But I can!_

"Helios, stop attacking Mirei!" Growlithe's trainer scolded at the fire dog. Helios' ears drooped down as he settled down on the grass and whined.

"I don't mind..." The other girl said and gave Growlithe a pat on the head before he got off of her. _Having a fire pokemon must be nice_, she decided. _Good for cold weather and for camping out. _

Chiharu sighed, "He needs to learn that it's not okay to jump on people. He's already getting heavy from all that food he eats."

"Ruff? Woof, woof!" The orange striped pokemon protested. _Me? Asahi eats more than I do!_

"Vee? Eevee, Eevee!" Chiharu's Eevee tossed her head in annoyance. _No, I do not! How dare you accuse a lady of eating like a dog? Does it look like I can possibly eat more than you already can?_

Little do they know, the Eevee sometimes steals the fire Pokémon's food when he isn't looking or is too busy pouncing on his trainer. The normal type rarely eats in front of humans, but is not at all reserved to hold back with her teammates, or her brother for that matter.

"Ve...Ve, Eevee, Ve...Eee, Eee, Ve?" Leo replied to her statement. _Well...That one time you took some of my poffins...isn't that right, Kisaki?_

"Nido, Nido, Rina." The Nidorina hushed them. _Stop arguing you guys, I hear something._ Her huge ears peaked at the sudden movement nearby.

Before Helios could say anything in response, he heard a loud shriek, "Oddish? Oddish, Oddish, Oddd!" _ Where are the berries? Where are they, where are they, wheeeerrreeee?_ The sentence ended rudely when the Growlithe looked up to see something small and blue flew straight to his face.

"Ruff?" _What the..._

"Odd? Oddish, odd- ODDISSSSH! ODD, ODD, ISSSSSSSH!" The poor grass type screamed. _Who, what, wher- FIRE POKEMON. NO, NO, NO, IT'S A FIRE POKEMON!_ Oddish tipped back and nearly fainted from the sight of a striped dog that was barely taller than itself

"An Oddish?" Chiharu stared at the panicking grass pokemon that had flopped on the floor like a pulled out dandelion. It had a small armless blue body with big green leaves coming out of its head. The Oddish hopped around the forest with hysteria, trying to get away from Growlithe.

"Why is that Oddish freaking out so much?" Mirei looked bewildered at the Oddish that was now inching away from Helios, who looked at it with curiosity.

"Vee, Eevee, Eevee!" Chiharu's Eevee pointed at the Oddish with its paws and then to Helios and imitated an expression of shock and fear before fainting.

"It's scared of Helios?" Asahi nodded. Chiharu somewhat understood what her Eevee had to say whenever the pokemon had to translate pokespeak. It was useful in disputing the occasional fights between the pokemon back at home and it was fun to guess what Asahi had to say. Challenging Asahi to a game of charades was never a smart idea.

"Ruff, ruff." _I'm not that scary. _

"Helios, use Leer!" The bluenette ordered the fire type. Growlithe nodded and glared at the already clumsy Oddish and watched it trip over on its own feet.

"Odd!" _ Hey!_

Chiharu took out a Pokeball and aimed for the spinning grass pokemon. "Pokeball, go!" The Pokeball enlarged and released a red beam to enclose Oddish into the capsule. The ball wobbles a few times before coming to a complete stop.

"Ruff." _She's caught._ Growlithe stared at the stationary Pokeball. "Woof, woof." _Weird pokemon. _

"That's nice," Mirei mumbled when her friend showed the pokeball to her. "It's cold, let's camp out here." She dropped her bag and sat on the grass with her Eevee and Nidorina. "I'm tired."

Despite wearing only a thin short sleeved hoodie and a pair of jean shorts, Chiharu seemed unaffected by the cool summer breeze and said, "Okay then, I guess I'll go gather some firewood for dinner. You're fine staying here with your pokemon?"

Mirei waved her hand at her friend with a smile, "I'll be fine. My pokemon are enough to knock out any pokemon that dare attacks us!"

"They only attack if you disturb them..." Chiharu mumbled, but nodded and left her friend with Helios and Asahi walking by her side.

* * *

"Firewood, firewood..."

By the time Chiharu found enough firewood for the campsite, she was ten to fifteen minutes away from where Mirei was. This part of the forest had more pokemon out and about due to it being a rarely traveled path. A few Psyducks wobbled by, probably to that small lake to get back to their group. The trees were older and the forest floor was dry and cracked from July's heat. When she saw the stone pillars formed into a circle formation with ancient scriptures on it, she realized where she was.

"We used to play here as children," the girl whispered. Helios looked at the stony stage inquiringly. He walked up to one of the pillars to sniff it and decided that he liked the smell of it, but sneezed.

"Ee..." Asahi remembered. She and her brothers would run around the stage that was made of a white unknown stone that was still clinging onto existence. Like the pillars, the stage held old scriptures that had no meaning to the Eevees or to their trainers, who were all children when they found the place. The girls named it their secret hiding place and went there when they decided to ditch class.

"Mom always got mad cause we left the village's radius of the forest," she chuckled. She chased them out of the area with a briefcase and shouting out that she was grounded. Her mother's wild hair and light blue eyes always shocked strangers when they found out that she was related to her.

Chiharu was about to leave when she heard a loud groan. Her dark brown eyes darted to the side of the area where a tall but frail-looking girl. Her clothes was torn and faded like it had been washed too many times. Tilting her head to the side, Chiharu saw that the girl's rib cage was slightly bulging out while her abdomen sunk un slightly, like a teen's developing Adam's apple. She picked up a pokeball with her thin left hand; a red liquid reflected the dim lighting from the moon.

"Sa-Satsuki?" The catcher asked out loud, afraid that the person in front of her may just be a mirage.

It has been years, but there it was no mistake that it was her. The person before her had hazel eyes where it was a rusty hue at the iris' edge, but it held a dull shine, unlike its original brightness that stood out in the past. Eyes that reflected the light of the moon, giving the illusion that her eyes were silver in color rather than the lighter shade of brown. A small accessory that glinted in the dim light hung from base of her neck, underneath a metallic studded black choker.

The necklace resembled Mirei's Love ball made of rose gold and Chiharu's Premier Ball made from white gold. A small pokeball that resembled a Dusk ball, carved in a thin smoothed pendant made of silver. Each of the necklaces had a different quality of precious gems as its 'button', Mirei's deep red ruby, Chiharu's vivid amethyst, and Satsuki's the darkest hue of sapphire. They spent months doing odd jobs around the village to earn enough money to pay for the necklaces themselves. They were custom made and were a symbol of their friendship.

The trainer next to the large shadowed pokemon snapped her head to the sound, but kept a poker face even as the blood running down her arm had reached the enlarged pokeball in her hand. She slowly minimized the capsule and attached it to the nearest open slot of her belt. Leaning down lower to the head of the uncommon pokemon, Chiharu saw her mouth move thanks to the pale moonlight.

"H-hey... Why won't you answer me..?" Her voice shook as tears threatened to fall, blurring her vision. "It's been five years... So why? Why won't you answer me?! Satsuki!"

Without warning, the teen leaped onto the pokemon and dashed out from the clearing, the shadow of what seemed like a dense and solid cloud followed. Chiharu and her Growlithe raced after the two down through the ever growing thick expanse of the forest. They quickly merged into the darkness of the trees when the trainer suddenly tripped over an exposed tree root. She swiftly looked up after her fall to find nothing before her.

"Ruff!" Her Growlithe barked and whined. _Hey, are you okay?_

* * *

Satsuki coughed out a disgustingly familiar red fluid from her lungs as she gasped for the cool night air. The electric shocks had already stopped, but the twinge was still there, reminding her how little control she has of her own life. She looked up and saw the poor berry bush that had cushioned her fall off the leaping legendary; it was missing half of its original body mass, smashed into the dirt at its roots.

_Haaaaaaaa, _the trainer heard from behind her. She turned to see a small and brown fox like pokemon stretch and yawn in the moonlight. _You finally decided to let me out? Hmmmm, the night feels so nice~_

"When did you..." she breathed out, her voice hoarse. She faintly recalled the sound of a pop and a red flash in the midst of her 'episode.' "Oh..."

_Satsuki!_ Entei called out quietly, trying to not make his presence known to all in the forest. His head rustled its way out of a nearby intact bush and found his trainer with an Eevee. _Are... Are you two ok?_

_Yo, Entei!_ The Eevee smiled. _Isn't the night great? All the shadows, and it's not-_

_You do realize that Satsuki is puking up blood right now..._ the Legendary mumbled, causing the evolution pokemon to whip around.

_Wha- Satsuki! OH NO SATSUKI! _He began to panic and scurry around his trainer.

"Elliot, just shut up," she muttered, spitting out the last of the crimson liquid from her mouth. She looked up to see her Eevee wide eyed and beating himself up for not noticing earlier. She would have felt sorry for him when his smile dropped, but the tingling sensation from the earlier shock still felt raw and fresh underneath her flesh.

Suddenly, he is sitting in front of a tree, head down. A cloud of depression was almost visible as he said; _I don't deserve to be here..._

_Stop beating yourself up, you idiot! _A small orange fox like creature with multiple curled up tails hopped beside the Eevee. Vulpix yawned and looked up at the stars. She trotted over to Satsuki and nudged the teen with her soft head. _If you beat yourself up all the time, then you won't be able to save her if it happens again. _

"How many pokemon were released from their pokeballs?" the trainer asked herself as she watched the three canine resembling pokemon bicker about.

_Is it dinner time yet? _A young voice asked. _ I'm hungry! ...this smells good..._

"DO NOT, EAT THAT TREE ROOT." Satsuki shouted, not bothering that Chiharu may actually still be around.

_I don't think that's edible... _Her Scizor calmly posed itself against a tall tree as it watched its noisy teammates bicker at each other. The small black-haired dragon tripped over as he walked towards the tree with his tongue sticking out. Pouting, really.

"You got out too, Conroy? Can you pull Kurosaki away from anything that might leave splinters in his mouth?" The little dragon pokemon stubbornly tried to eat the nearest branch as the bug pokemon held him up off the ground.

_A little help here would be very...appreciated, _Feebas whimpered as she flopped up and down on the moist dirt.

_I need to see if you have any injuries_. The red bug pokemon said, always cautious about his trainer's welfare in general. Although the scar on his left eye may have been the cause of his careful nature.

"There's nothing wrong," Satsuki said. "It's just a warning."

_I'm not talking about that, I can clearly tell it's a warning,_ the steel type hybrid wrestled his metallic claw out of Deino's mouth; the dragon's attempt in regaining freedom. _I'm talking about any that you could have gotten when you flew off Entei's back. You did land on your belt, did the pokeballs leave bruises?_

_Just let me eat one more tree branch! _ The blind dragon begged his babysitter. He nodded at another tree nearby. _I promise I'll be done after that!_

"_No," _both his trainer and teammate replied at the same time.

_Suicune isn't in the forest_, Entei interrupted the bicker. _It appears that my brother has escaped, as always... He loves his dramatic entries as much as father did. It's likely that he ran off to search for him._ The volcano pokemon paced around the area with heavy footsteps with his vision directed through the trees

"That's expected," Satsuki remembered the aurora Pokémon's theatrical exit when it stopped back to protect Celebi. Its habit of talking made her almost glad that she didn't have the chance to catch it. Almost.

_We need to be more cautious, _the legendary beast continued. _A human girl saw Satsuki when it happened. _

_We should just rest here for the night,_ Scizor suggested while attempting to redirect Deino towards the berries.

"And give_ her_ a chance to find us here?" she clenched her teeth. "No. If we can't find Suicune in this forest anymore, then we may still have a chance to learn something about Ho-Oh... We still have the village."

_Wouldn't she be back at the village...? _Entei asked.

"No, then she wouldn't be wandering around this late. I think she is going towards the main cities. Kurosaki, Fial, Conroy, return!"

Begrudgingly, three red beams shot back into their respective pokeballs. After doing a head count, Satsuki realized that the only one that did not leave their pokeball was her Ralts, who was probably sleeping at this time of night.

"Let's see if the adults still remember me," she said with a faraway look on face as she took the first step deeper into the core of the forest.

* * *

Viridian Gym

Green looked at his former rival. It was Red, the Kanto champion in the flesh. He was the same as Green remembered. Pale, thin, wore a red cap over his messy black hair and the same outfit he had been wearing for years: a red vest over his black T-shirt and a pair of jeans. When Red showed up after Youngster Joey's little battle, Green was shocked at his sudden appearance and stuttered at the Kanto champion to come in. The small dark haired trainer took off his cap and suggested that they would talk about the issue at a cafe nearby. Too surprised to give a proper answer, the gym leader nodded mechanically and walked out of the gym with his old childhood friend. Green unusually told his referee to take a day off and bid him farewell before following Red. Legendary pokemon. Disappeared. Gone. Wiped off the map. It was a sick cruel joke. Green waited for Red to uncharacteristically break into a wide grin and say "Just kidding!" Who was he fooling? When was the last time his childhood friend actually made a joke to him? Let alone utter a sentence that required more than one breath?

"Gone." Green said hollowly. Red nodded. The gym leader ran his hand through his spiky brown hair. His usual attire of a black jacket was gone because of the humid weather. "Are you sure?"

It was a pointless question, but Green wanted the other trainer to tell him that he was wrong and that this was all just a stupid getup set by him and Blue, like the old days. It was still early in the morning, so he and Red only ordered drinks. He noticed that Red had barely touched his drink since they came into the shop. It was a strawberry kiwi blast, a blend of strawberries and kiwis with other fruit like blueberries and bananas. He recalled the waitress blushing when she asked them for their orders. Green himself ordered a cucumber drink that had the aftertaste of apples and lemons.

The look Red gave him seemed to have said "What do you think?" with his raised eyebrow over his vivid red eyes. Red's Pikachu gave Green a look of sympathy as it was clear that this conversation was making Green uncomfortable. It was like Green's visits to Mt. Silver again where he did all of the talking. Green looked down at his shaking hands and gave a hard swallow.

"All of the legendaries are gone?" He asked. To his relief, the raven haired trainer slowly shook his head, but held up five fingers. "Five legendaries..." Green ran his fingers through his messy brown hair as he tried to imagine which pokemon had disappeared.

Red motioned his hand towards Green's bag. It took the gym leader a few seconds to realize that he was referring to the Pokedex. It was a red device the size of a small book with a with a control panel on the side. It was the newest version of the Kanto Pokedex with updated information of pokemon species. Green opened the flip screen, scanned through the page listing the different pokemon, and selected Articuno to see. Kanto's map popped up on the screen, revealing an icon of a blue bird hovering over Seaform Islands. He then went back to the listing page and strolled down for Moltres, who had a similar mark hovering over Mt. Silver, Mew had a question mark on the map as always, and then Zapdos and Mewtwo were...

"It's not there." Green said in disbelief. "But the other legendaries are still there."

Red shook his head, "Not for long." If Zapdos was already gone, there was a good chance Moltres and Articuno, and then many others, would soon follow.

"What do you mean?" Although the gym leader had a good idea of what that meant. A possibility that was very terrifying to think of. Legendaries from other regions were gone too?

"Mewtwo, Zapdos, Giratina, Palkia, Dialga, and possibly more have disappeared," a familiar voice answered for Red. Green looked up to see a young woman walk up to them. Her long brown hair reached down to her waist and she wore a grim smile. With Red, the gym leader barely saw him, but he saw her nearly every day due to her being a Trainer House employee. The building was located almost right next to Green's gym.

"Blue." Green greeted her. "So that's how Red knew about these legendaries going missing." He recalled his grandfather always speaking great of Red, but one of the few complaints he had heard was that Red barely put effort into completing the Pokedex or showing much interest in it. How often would Red checked his Pokedex? Not at all if he remembered correctly.

"Hi Green," she said. "Have you remembered to complete your paperwork?" Her voice cracked on the word 'paperwork'.

"How can you be talking about paperwork at a time like this?" Green raged, too accustomed to that tone, but still didn't react well to her anger. She wasn't angry right now, but concerning paperwork, it was a no man zone. What was the Pokemon League Association thinking about handing out paperwork to gym leaders? It was already hard work looking after the gym, the pokemon, making sure the junior trainers were getting paid, properly keeping the pokemon in tip top shape, and so on.

She ignored his outcry. "Besides coming here to remind you of the work you never finished, I was the one who told Red to go check Sinnoh for me. My guess was right. The creation trio no longer exists on the map." She grabbed a chair from an empty table and joined Red and Green. Blue sat down and smoothed the red skirt she was wearing that day. The white hat sun hat she normally had was left at her apartment.

"How about Hoenn and Unova?" The gym leader asked. "I haven't heard you mention the weather trio."

Red then said, "It's hard to track them." His Pikachu cried out its name in agreement. It looked as sad as its trainer. The yellow rodent was munching on a red apple the kind waitress had given to it by request.

"Latios and Latias have a habit of roaming around, so it's hard to notice their disappearance," the female trainer lamented. "I had to visit Hoenn myself to check it out with a couple of trainers. Kyogre and Groudon haven't shown up on the map since the Hoenn incident a few years ago and Rayquaza never appears unless there is a conflict between the two."

"Someone is out there hunting them," the Kanto champion said blunt. "Why else would the timing be so perfect?" Pikachu was still sitting on his lap eating the apple and chirped happily.

Green blinked. "What do you mean?"

"We believe they were gone since for a couple years at most," Blue said. "But no one ever reported it until recently when more have disappeared so quickly. It can only mean that someone out there is deliberately searching them out for a reason."

"And Unova?" _Why would someone try to catch so many legendaries? _ He wondered. One legendary was enough to cause alarm to the public. There was a reason why the very few who have owned legendaries in the past have ended up releasing them or rarely using them in battles. If the legendaries were indeed being captured, the person seemed to be somewhat efficient to have already acquired five legendaries. How many more was the person planning to catch?

"Nothing." Red interrupted Green's thoughts. Blue called the Unova gym leaders, only to get a rude no. The gym leaders who answered the call told them in broken Japanese that Unova was having its own problems with a villain team of some sort. Team Plastic? Something like that. The young man had to halt himself from laughing at the stupid name.

Green bit his lip. He was having a typical day, training his pokemon, playing with his pokemon, getting his college work done, and dealing with a certain youngster trainer again...and all of a sudden, both Red and Blue show up and deliver this bundle of goodies. It wasn't even lunch time yet. Red and Blue were going to different regions to fix this problem and he never knew it. He didn't like where this was going. Not at all.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?" The young gym leader blurted out, glaring at his childhood friends. "Why now?" Red shifted in his seat and tried to find the right words, the very few words he would say.

"Didn't want you to worry," he thought he heard his old rival mumble.

"We weren't sure about this until Red got back from Sinnoh," Blue said quietly. "Red and I had to be sure before I told him to come to you." She tried to smile. "Besides, you have the gym and college to worry about."

"That's not the point," Green argued. "As a gym leader, I'm just as responsible about this problem as you two are." Although a small part of at him reminded himself that that wasn't the case eight years ago in Silph Co. A dark time he didn't want to recall, especially right now. The incident also involved him earning a hard slap from Blue with Red standing innocently as the bystander after he refused to help the two in defeating Team Rocket.

"We told the gym leaders, Elite Four, and the champions in the other regions," Blue said and folded her arms. "They'll keep an eye on them. They'll warn us when they see something suspicious. The police are looking into it too."

"We need to leave for Johto," Red whispered. His drink was half way drank. He swirled the contents of the drink and stared at the mixed fruit.

"Johto?" Green raised his eyebrow.

"The recent disappearances have been from Johto," the young woman said. "I figured that it would be a start to search from there. It's well known for its long history, so I wouldn't be surprised if several legendaries were to reside there."

Johto, huh? Green had only been to Johto a few times, mainly to go and catch a few pokemon and maybe visit some friends or a few of their historical sites. The main place Green had gone to in Johto for the past year was Mt. Silver to visit Red, but so did Blue. Both of them visited their quiet friend to drop books, clothes, and other necessary items and to give him updates on the world while their pokemon interacted.

"I'll go," Green decided. "I'll find the collector."

"But your gym-" Red said.

"Blue can look after the gym," Green assured him and looked at Blue. "I was going to say that I was going to find a substitute at the Trainer House, but they always send you." Blue was the only substitute who could deal with the gym leader's tendency of randomly leaving his gym for trips and errances. She was also the only one who had the patience to remind Green about his paperwork without running out in tears.

"Hey!" She whined. "Don't decide things without asking me!" She huffed before saying, "But I'll stay anyway because who else will look after your gym?"

"Then I'll go too," Red stood up from his seat. "Enemy must be strong for legendaries."

"I'll make sure Articuno and Moltres aren't next," she said. "People like this guy must want the whole collection."

"You sure you're okay with this?" Green never said this out loud, but he sometimes felt guilty of relying on his friend so much as his replacement. She was his substitute so often that challengers have mistakenly called him Blue at times.

"I can handle some newbie trainers," Blue stood up and laughed. "They may have seven badges, but I'll never let it be an easy win!"

"Annoying woman..." He groaned. "Just to warn you, there's this youngster trainer who has been battling me every day for the last month..."

"He can't be that bad," She put her hands on her hips.

"All he has is a Raticate." Green stressed on the Pokémon's name. "That's it. I would have been happy if he had a Furret, a Linoone, a Bibarel, or a Watchog too, but that's all he has. A Raticate." And the youngster would challenge him every morning at eight. Not nine, not eight thirty, eight o'clock in the morning. He never thought it was possible, but after battling the trainer so many times, he was sick of Rattatas and Raticates more than before. There was so much regret for living in a city where Rattatas are abundant.

"What's a Watchog?" Red gave his childhood rival an odd look. Pikachu raised its pointed ears in confusion as well.

"Pika, Pika?" _Is that a real pokemon? _

Green paused. "It's the evolved form of a Patrat."

"Which is...?" _What a stupid name,_ the small champion thought.

The gym leader shook his head, "It doesn't matter, we won't be meeting any in Johto." There was no way the collector would have any interest in the most common mammal pokemon in a faraway continent. The three of them finished their drinks and walked out of the cafe to see the bright blue sky. It was a beautiful summer day with the white clouds hovering over them.

"You two should get going then," Blue said softly. "Today is Sunday. The ship will be leaving soon." She brushed her long hair to the side and looked at them nervously. The two former rivals were giving each other strange looks. Green seemed uncertain of what to say and Red wore his usual poker face.

"Yeah," Green said. He took out a pokeball containing his starter. "We'll be in Johto in no time." Red nodded in agreement.

She stopped herself from breathing out, "Please don't get into a fight..." They haven't had a proper full conversation since the beginning of their pokemon journey eight years ago. Leaving them alone didn't seem like a good idea, but she had no choice. Pikachu, on the other hand, was in a cheery mood thanks to being able to eat a full meal again. Food was scarce on Mt. Silver during certain seasons.

Red turned back to look at her and said, "We'll be fine. Just worry about Kanto for us." He reassured her with a smile. He took out a red Pokeball and threw it in the air. "Pte, Fly to Vermillion City!" A man sized pokemon with saw-like fangs came out of its container. It had a rough purple hide and had wings that spanned up to a several meters. Aerodactyl cried out its name and swooped down to let its trainer hop on its back.

"Charizard, follow Pte!" An orange dragon like pokemon flew out of its Pokeball and joined the prehistoric pokemon with Green on its back. "We'll be gone for a few months," he hollered at Blue. "Make sure you finish the paperwork on time!"

"I hate you!" She yelled back but cried. "Don't do anything stupid, you two!"

Green laughed at her comment. Red smiled. The gym leader's Charizard and Red's Aerodactyl looked at the small city of Viridian and flew off into the clouds with the imprint of the green city in their minds. A gust of wind blew in Green's face. Despite knowing that they have possibly signed up for a death wish, he smiled. For the first time in years, he began to feel the same rush of adrenaline and energy he felt at beginning of his pokemon journey when he was eleven years old.

* * *

**Author Notes: **As you have noticed by now, this story will have a few different points of views. They will eventually connect, as you can see by Chiharu's run-in with Satsuki. Question of the chapter: Who did you start with in Pokemon Red/Blue/Yellow/FireRed/Leafgreen, who did you play as, and what did you name your rival? Until the next update, see you next time! Leave a review please.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

* * *

**Japanese Names: **

Mikan = Jasmine

Gantetsu = Kurt

Yukinari Ookido = Samuel Oak (Professor Oak)

Wataru = Lance

* * *

**Disclaimer:**We do not own Pokemon in any shape or form. Pokemon rightfully belongs to Satoshi Tajiri, Game Freak, and Nintendo. We only own the idea of and plot of this fanfic. Characters are a mix of OC and game characters. Game characters' personalities are loosely based off of the game's counterparts. Please support the official release and enjoy this fic. A few of the quotes from Green are his game dialogue. We don't own that. The cover picture also does not belong to us and is drawn by Nintendo's Ken Sugimori.

* * *

The sky was as blue as it could ever be, with the occasional cloud gently floating by. The busy port life of Olivine City swept by as fast as the sea's wind when it was ready to take the sailboats far from the land. Bird pokemon flew through the breeze, gliding above the many fishing boats that are anchored to the ocean's floor. The crowded port city had tourists and sailors crowding around the ships and hotels. The lighthouse's light was turned off because of the clear skies and weather. It was the pinnacle image of the beach city. A perfect day for the protagonists to begin their journey. Well, most anyways...

"Pika, pii," the electric mouse pokemon whined at its trainer. _Are you feeling better now? _The pokemon patted his trainer on the head to see if he was still unconscious. Pikachu drooped its ears.

The Kanto champion sat underneath a tree on a bench; his head facing the leaves as he cleared his head to not let nausea get the best of him. Green ran off trying to find something salty for his friend to eat, to help him quickly get over the wave of seasickness. However, the gym leader found himself going into a very crowded pub where sailors and muscled men ordered food in huge amounts and talking loudly over one another. He was starting to regret going to Olivine City.

"Excuse me, but are you looking for something?" A feminine voice asked when Green stooped down to avoid eye contact with the intimidating pub crowd. The pub was curiously constructed where part of the building's ceiling started to slant downward. Green nearly bumped his head against the low ceiling when he looked up.

"Ah, yes..." he replied as he ducked down from another swinging elbow of a drunken captain. "Does this place have something salty?"

"I suppose it's for seasickness?" she replied back. She was a tiny young lady wearing an icy blue dress with a huge soft orange colored bow and a white cardigan which covered up to the midsection of her forearms. She had her bangs up in pigtails, held up by two orange orbed hair bands. Her soft brown hair hung down to her waist and fluttered about when she moved her arms or shoulders.

"Mikan," the gym leader recognized. His lips pulled up into a grin. "Hey, it's been a while."

"It's good to see you too," she smiled shyly. "Wait outside for a bit, I'll go get your order."

Green was about to protest when her tiny figure slipped right through in the crowd, disappearing from his sight. With a sigh, he wrestled his way out of the building. As soon as he made it through the door, the Steel-Clad Defense girl was already right in front of him, holding a rather large plastic plate of salted sweet potato fries with the side of ketchup.

"You're a lifesaver," he breathed out, taking the heavy dish out of her hands.

"For a friend?" she asked as the two walked towards the harbor. The crowd was thinning out now with most of the people gathering towards the nearby cafes for lunch.

"Yeah, I'll keep a mental note not to let him ride a boat in the future."

Mikan chuckled quietly while trying to keep up with Green's pace. The Viridian gym leader was a whole two heads taller than the Olivine gym leader. "What's the occasion? You hardly ever come to Johto. Did you come to go visit your friend up on Mt. Silver again?"

"Actually, he is the one seasick right now," he replied with a darker tone.

She tilted her head to look at his expression and asked, "Did something happen on the boat ride?"

* * *

Red opened his eyes to see the rustling leaves that swayed with the cool sea breeze, watching the shadows blur together and refuse to stay in place. His head finally stopped spinning around and he felt like he was actually on land instead of the unstable rocking from when he first got off the boat.

"Why did you isolate yourself on top of that damn mountain?" Green had questioned on the boat as it finally started moving. The Kanto champion clearly recalled the brunette's hurt voice.

He couldn't think of an answer right away. The gym leader stared off into the crashing waves and white ripples that the boat had left behind as it sped off towards Olivine City. When the raven haired teenager had finally thought up an answer, he was rudely interrupted by a headache and his vision started to spin and blur. Instead of what he was originally about to say, he instead blurted out, "I don't feel so good."

Luckily, it was a short ride, or else Red would have had to listen to Green freak out the entire time because he didn't what to do with a seasick person while they were still on the boat. During the entire ordeal, a kind soul saw his Pikachu sitting nearby with his ears pulled back and gave the mouse a ripe red apple. _At least Pika was distracted_, he thought to himself.

"I didn't know how to face you properly after that incident..." Red murmured to himself what he had wanted to say to his best friend. He felt a paw press down on his thigh, making him look back down. His Pikachu crawled onto his lap, curled into a ball, and drifted off into a nap, almost as if he was reassuring his trainer that it was alright.

"Hey, Red! Are you feeling better?" Green called out not to far from where the trainer sat. Red pulled up a finger to his lips and motioned to his sleeping electric mouse on his lap. The brunette came closer and said in a quieter voice, "Woops, sorry. Here, eat these. Salty foods help with seasickness."

Mikan poked her head from behind Green's back to see the Kanto champion as he gratefully took the plate of fries and started munching. The Viridian gym leader chuckled softly and added, "This is Mikan, the gym leader here in Olivine. She's extremely shy and nervous around most people."

_As I can see_, Red thought as he curtly nodded, his mouth currently full with sweet potato. He watched his friend snicker at the tiny girl as she sent him a glare after his comment. A strange feeling gnawed at him in the back of his mind, but the Kanto champion smothered it down.

"Let's see," Green muttered to himself as he whipped out his Pokegear. "I think we should start with Ecruteak, since it's known for its history and for the reported sightings of legendaries. I haven't been there, so we are going to have to walk from Azalea Town..."

As a child, he was raised by his sister, his father, and grandfather. His grandfather used to take him to Azalea Town every year to visit an old friend of his. Green would spend his summers walking around town trying to catch any reactions of the many Slowpokes that resided in the town. Their dopey expressions never changed.

He turned to the Johto gym leader, "Did Blue ask you to keep an eye and ear out for anything regarding the legendary pokemon?" She gave a slight nod and Green continued, "Anything you can fill us in on?"

"Rumors are always floating around, especially in a port city like Olivine," she answered. "Most are inconsistent, but I've heard that Entei has not been seen in Johto for about five years, though I have heard that a few sailors have seen some pokemon like him in both Hoenn and Sinnoh."

_Mewtwo hasn't been seen since Red met it in several years ago_, Green remembered. Sometime after Red left the Elite Four, he started traveling around certain parts of Kanto. He found the genetic pokemon in the Cerulean Cave near the city that shared the same name. Red ran into it by accident. Not expecting a trainer to come by, Mewtwo attacked Red before abruptly leaving to who knows where.

"Ilex Forest is nearby Azalea Town," Mikan added. "The forest holds the shrine of the time traveling pokemon. Perhaps Gantetsu can fill you in with more details." _Ah, Gantetsu... _ It has been years since Green properly met him.

"Check on Celebi," Red whispered. They were the first words he had uttered since he got seasick. While the steel type trainer was talking to Green, Red was starting to feel the effect of the salty food. The dull pain started to subside. Not entirely, but the headache lost its intensity. The champion finished the last sweet potato and put the plate down on the bench beside him.

"You might not find Celebi," the young woman said quietly. "It never stays in the same place for too long." Everything known about Celebi in the textbooks was based off myths. Some scientists even doubt of its existence. She took the empty plate and balanced it on her left arm.

"Yes, but we'll have to stop by there anyway to get to Ecruteak." Green said. It was only then did he realize that it was odd that he never went to Ecruteak City. He had the money and time for vacations but rarely invested the effort to for a reason he couldn't think of at the moment. The young man pushed that thought away and went back to priorities: make sure the legendaries are still on the map.

"Let's go," his friend stood up from the bench. Pikachu instantly jumped off his lap and scurried to the trainer's left shoulder.

Green looked at Red nervously, "Are you sure you can fly properly?" It felt too soon to let the Kanto champion to fly on his own after experiencing seasickness. Red looked paler than usual. There was still sweat on his forehead and he had a worn out expression.

"I'll be fine," he said. "I've dealt with worse." Pikachu looked at him with concern.

"Pika, pi..." _You don't have to do that_, the electric pokemon mumbled.

"There's no need to push yourself too hard," Mikan said to the two young men. "But knowing that the legendaries are disappearing doesn't making me feel good either."

"This isn't good for anyone," Green agreed. "Have the islands been active lately?"

The other gym leader shook her head. He was referring to the famous Whirl Islands located between Olivine City and Cianwood City. The islands are so well known that tourists would come over to Johto just to get a chance of seeing the whirlpools and perhaps try a bit of the Olivine ramen with narutomaki (1).

"Nothing." She checked her watch and sighed. "I'm sorry, but I have to attend my gym duties soon." Green understood. No matter how much he avoided the gym for whatever excuse he had at the time, all gym leaders were required to perform gym duties for a specific amount of hours.

"All right then," Green stood up with Red waiting for him.

* * *

Azalea Town

"Celebi, huh?" Gantetsu grumbled when Red and Green showed up at his front step with leaves in their hair. He gave Green a funny look. "How's your grandfather?"

The gym leader was taken aback by the sudden question. "He's fine," Green said. "He still flies to Saffron City every week to take the magnet train for his radio show." And still wakes up every morning to feed all of the pokemon in his ranch and make sure they get their exercise.

"I see," the pokeball maker sighed. "Celebi has been living in Ilex Forest for many centuries now. I have seen the pokemon myself a few years ago." He walked around the small room to examine a picture frame.

"What happened?" Red asked. Pikachu leaned over his trainer's shoulder with a questioning look.

"I don't know the details, but the forest cried that night. The time traveling pokemon brought a passenger with it." Gantetsu only remembered a boy running into his house with a gold and silver plated pokeball in his hand.

"And you haven't seen Celebi since?" Green asked.

"What most people consider is that Celebi is only sometimes in the forest. That is where they're wrong," he said sternly. "Celebi is the spirit of the forest. His presence is always there. If he went to the past or future, another part of himself would remain in the presence. Celebi can never be only in the past or future."

"What is that supposed to mean?" _Do all of the elderly speak this cryptically?_ Green thought frustrated. Or was it because Gantetsu always participated in haiku contests with his grandfather? He looked at Red beside him, who took in every word the elderly man said.

"Though there was an odd occurrence about an hour ago. The forest flickered. Except..." Gantetsu paused. "The forest didn't glow to its fullest... Celebi is gone."

"How would you know?" Green was eager to extract information.

"Boy! I was born and raised besides the forest my whole life! I can no longer feel its presence! The forest is less lively than it usually is. You are still the impatient boy Yukinari brought with him years ago."

Green swallowed at the old man's insults. It has been a long time since he was compared to his grandfather in any shape or form. His gym leader title had somewhat overshadowed his relations as Professor Ookido's grandson. His comment brought back memories he preferred not to think of at the moment. Memories of arguments and arrogance. It was making him feel uncomfortable, especially with Red listening to the whole thing.

"I am impatient," the gym leader admitted. "I haven't changed much. But we need to know about the legendary pokemon. They're disappearing and we can't afford to be polite if we want to stop this from happening."

"If that's the case, then listen to this." Gantetsu said, "Ho-Oh is sometimes rumored to pass by this area. Just an old wives' tale, but there is always some bits of truth in those rumors."

"If Celebi was captured an hour ago, then the catcher is in this forest," Red thought out loud.

"We still have a chance to catch up to him..!" Green finished. He grabbed Red's arm and bolted for the door yelling, "Thanks Gantetsu! Hope you have a good day!"

The pokeball maker just shook his head, mumbling about how not a single young person could sit long enough to actually listen. He felt like he forgot something...

* * *

Unknown Path

"They said not to go," Red said, referring to the path he and Green were headed to.

When they checked the map on their Poke Gears, there was a wide gap between Azalea Town and Ecruteak City. A wide gap where according to the map was nothing but forests and wildlife. A haunted forest, the locals whispered. The remnants of an ancient civilization that used to thrive until war broke out and slaughtered the city. From what the Kanto champion gathered, the locals around the area warned them in hushed tones not to step into the forest. There were consistent rumors of people disappearing into the woods and never coming back and if they did, they held a perplex expression as if they were hiding something. Pokemon that aren't native to Johto were rumored to roam in the mysterious forest, another part of the puzzle.

"It's the only short way to Ecruteak City," Green insisted. "Our pokemon are strong. We'll make it." His friend looked uncertain. Maybe it was a bad idea to wander into this path at night...

The first hour of walking posed no problems for the two trainers as they delved deeper and deeper into the dense woods. Green kept his Pokegear open, on a compass setting, to insure that they won't stray off path. Soon enough, the air became thick as the fog started settling down. At first, the two thought nothing of it. It was quiet between the gym leader and champion, they hardly spoke a word outside directions.

"Green," a quiet whisper echoed through the leaves.

"Did you hear that?" the gym leader whipped around to find himself alone. Red and Pikachu were nowhere to be found. _Did they get lost?_ He thought, swearing aloud.

"Did you see his face?" a loud obnoxious voice laughed. "I can't believe the teacher fell for that!"

"I know, right?" another voice said. "Oldest joke in the book!" The voice sounded eerily familiar.

"What are you two laughing about?" A girl's voice pitched in. "Stop laughing!" The three of them laughed together. The children's laughter faded.

"You didn't come to my house last week," first voice cried with a sound of being hurt. Green snapped his head to his left to see nothing but the white of the low hanging cloud.

"Oh," another voice said. It sounded like the speaker shrugged. "I guess I forgot."

"How could you forget?" A girl's voice said this time. "It was his birthday!"

"Ha, ha," It was his voice..! His own voice! Although he voice sounded ten years younger, it was not at all foreign. Perhaps ten or eleven years old? "I'm sorry. I was hanging out with some friends..."

"We are your friends!" He now recognized the voice as Red's. It has been a long time since he had heard that voice. Loud expressive Red, from when he still talked and rambled like most children.

"I'm sorry," the apology sounded empty with no meaning.

"Wait, I said that? Did I really say it like that?" Green shouted to the voices, but they didn't react and continued on with their argument. He spun around, trying to locate the source.

"I told you, I was just borrowing your book." His younger self excused himself.

"You ripped one of the pages!" The younger Red exclaimed. "My mom gave it to me for my birthday!"

"I guess it was an accident," The younger Green said.

"This is your fault!" Younger Red shouted. "If it wasn't for you, this wouldn't have happened!" They were being accused for something.

"Really? Because I think this is your fault!" Green's eleven year old argued back. "You're just jealous because my grandpa is Professor Ookido!"

"No, no no no no no..!" The actual Green wandered towards random directions of the forest. His eyes were wide and full of regret as he had both his hands running through his hair, a nervous habit of his.

"I don't care about you being related to him! He's already like a grandpa to me!" Red yelled.

"Stop fighting!" Younger Blue cried over the two voices overlapping each other.

"You think you're so great!" Green's voice continued, "Because grandpa always talks good about you. You know what? I am sick of arguing with you. SHUT UP, RED! JUST SHUT UP!"

Green's knees met the dark moist grass below him. He tried to cover his ears but he could still hear the harsh words that his past refused to let him forget. His own voice came close to sobs, "I didn't mean that, I didn't mean to yell at you Red..."

"This is your fault!" She sobbed. "How could you do this to him! He doesn't talk anymore because of you!"

Another pause came in.

"Why won't you say anything?" She cried. "I am sick of your stupid attitude!" She yelled. Green heard a small thumping noise of someone walking up to him. The gym leader then felt a force slap him in the face. Green rubbed his left cheek. The slap felt raw and fresh.

She slapped him that day, and not without reason. After that fight, Green refused to see Red, and Red never tried to visit. Blue came up to him later that week and screamed at him how his best friend had just stopped talking. Not a word that wasn't necessary; just silence. There was a short pause before more voices came in, except this time; it was a slightly more mature voice of Blue and Green.

"What kept you, Red? Hahaha! I thought you'd turn out if I waited here! I guess Team Rocket slowed you down! Not that I care! I saw you in Saffron, so I decided to see if you got better!" Green was starting to hate his own odious voice.

"So you decided to go pick on Red after he just battled those Rockets?" Blue's voice raised an octave higher. There was an awkward pause after her comment, but Green knew why. That day, Red shook his head at her when she said that. Why? To tell her that it was okay? Or that he wanted to battle Green? What?

"Huh?" Green's younger self sounded confused.

"You make me sick," her voice said with hatred. "Picking on people who don't talk. We just fought all those Rockets to protect the people of Saffron and you bring you lazy ass here to tell us that you want to battle Red?" She stopped talking to listen in to something. "You want to battle him? You sure?" Green remembered her offering Red healing items, but the silent trainer shook his head and took out his pokemon instead.

The battle brought the attention of the other grunts with Green running away and shouting, "Looks like I have to go heal my pokemon!"

"Come back here, you coward!" She shrieked. Green heard more footsteps of both her and the Rocket grunts. He felt another slap, this time on his other cheek. This slap was worse than the first one. The sound of the footsteps slowly faded away with the pain of the slap. He still knelt there in the forest and the fog, unable to move as his memories echoed around him.

"So it's Blue who gets to me first before Red," Green's voice rose again. "I guess the loser wasn't strong enough, figures."

"I dare you to say that after I kick your butt," Blue's voice growled. The present Green recognized those comments. It was 'the battle'. "Kame-chan, go!" The deep voice of the pokemon cried "Blasssstooooisee!"

"I just became the Elite Four Champion! I'm not going to lose that easily!" Green shouted over Blastoise. "Charizard, go!" The orange dragon roared furiously. The present day Green felt like his starter pokemon was crying into his earlobes. He turned to check but there was nothing.

"Everyone knows water defeats fire!" She cried. The pokemon's cries flooded Green's ears. The sound of water and fire attacks being shot out was loud and audible. "Hydro Pump!" Green heard a loud crash. His Charizard was slammed against the wall from the powerful move.

"Charizard!"

"Who's your next pokemon?" She sneered. "I guess you say can 'smell ya later' to this one."

"Heh," the sound of a pokeball expanding to its full size opened up. "I won't lose with my Exeggutor!" Exeggutor cry overwhelmed present day Green.

"You fought well," Blue said quietly. "Like a girl!" Her voice shook the forest, "Kame-chan, Ice Beam the plant!" Water shot out and made a crackled noise as it was froze and flung at its opponent.

"Psychic!" Exeggutor cried its names. The young Green shouted, "Both of you are so weak, you might as well get married!"

"That's original," it sounded like she rolled her eyes.

"I don't know what you see in him," he continued. "He's weak, a loser, and he doesn't talk."

"I dare you to say that again! Ice Beam again!"

"What happened to Red?" Green's voice echoed through the white and faded fog. "He's a joke! He just shut up 'cause I told him to, if that isn't weak, then I don't know what is!"

"SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP!" Present day Green felt the air shift as something moved in the wind and hit him in the face, knocking him to the ground. He remembered. After that smartass remark, Blue kicked him squarely in the face. She was disqualified from the match because she was going beyond the battle boundaries.

With a glare from his childhood friend that day, she left and said, "I hope you're satisfied." Her acrid remark left the current Green frozen. Her voice was cold and full of venom. An hour later, Red himself would show up.

"What took you so long?" the cocky brat spat out. Green was really starting to hate his own voice. "Was the Elite Four that hard? My rival should be strong to keep me sharp! While working on my Pokédex, I looked all over for powerful Pokémon! Not only that, I assembled teams that would beat any Pokémon type! And now! I am the Pokémon League Champion! Red! Do you know what that means? I'll tell you! I am the most powerful trainer in the world!"

Red mopped the floor with him that day. Without uttering a word too; his pokemon moved on his silent command, completely throwing the arrogant younger version of himself off. Despite Red being mute, he was still expressive where you could read his face like a book. His body language showed his emotions of the battle and his pokemon synchronized with their trainer without doubt or confusion. The battle didn't take all too long. Red's team consisted of pokemon that he would have labeled weak in the past Green's eyes, but each grew into pokemon that no trainer could compare their own to.

However, Green's tears dripped and soaked into the cold dark dirt of the forest. His soft emerald eyes saw nothing but grayed out blurs as his regrets and darkness took hold. One day, Green went to Red's house for the first time in years. To apologize. Of the worse luck, when he came into the house, Red wasn't there. Instead, he found a sticky note on Red's old SNES saying:

_"Going to Mt. Silver. _

_- Red"_

It was a very short note with Red's contact number at the bottom. A new device called the Pokegear was released the year before and was starting to gain popularity among trainers, specifically for the calling feature. Being able to call someone without having to actually use a house phone was, at the time, phenomenal. Green dared to call, but never got any replies.

"He's still on Mt. Silver?" Green asked that day. His voice now sounded cracked. He was starting puberty.

"Yes," Blue no longer sounded angry. She accepted the fact. Her own voice had become lower pitched. "I can't blame him." Present day Green waited for his younger self to reply back, but there was an odd silence.

Her voice shook. "He defeated Team Rocket and he became Kanto's Elite Four Champion. Everyone expects him to be great." There was a pause of quick breathing. "I can't blame him for leaving. All those expectations. I helped Red defeated Team Rocket too, but I didn't become champion." She sobbed, "If I defeated you, I could have been champion and Red wouldn't have left. I should have been the one on Mt. Silver, not Red." The teenage girl cried.

It wasn't until another year before Green finally dragged himself up that mountain, only to have the most one sided, most awkward conversation he had ever had to engage. It ended with him not even being able to say that he was sorry, another regret that gnawed at his heart. He rolled over to his side, his tears freely flowing now. He still went to visit to Mt. Silver, as much as possible. It was a pointless cause where all conversations were one sided, but he still came back. Out of worry, out of fear, out of guilt.

"Red," Green in the present day felt faint and whispered. "I'm sorry..."

* * *

Lost. Red wandered deeper into the misty fog, hoping that he would accidentally run into Green's back. The Kanto champion swore that Green and Pikachu were right in front of him, but blink, and they were gone. He looked around and even tried tracking by looking for footprints or anything in the grass, only to find nothing. He continued on, following the figures and shadows of the trees.

"Look! A Rattata!" A loud voice cried. Red stopped in mid-step. He had not heard his own voice being spoken like that. It felt alien.

"Let's catch it!" A second voice shouted. It sounded like...Green? Their voices. It sounded like their voices when they were five. The first two voices slowly faded away.

"Her name is Kora-chan!" A young girl's voice came up later.

"No way! Let's name him Kora! He's a boy!" The first voice exclaimed.

"He's our Rattata," the other boy said. "Let's leave it as Rattata. He can belong to all of us."

"You think you're so great!" Green's voice suddenly switched in volume. His voice was less high pitch because he was now eleven years old. Red remembered how the argument escalated from missing a birthday party, to books... "Because grandpa always talks good about you. You know what? I am sick of arguing with you. SHUT UP, RED! JUST SHUT UP!"

_No_.

"This is your fault!" She sobbed. "How could you do this to him! He doesn't talk anymore because of you!"

_It's not his fault_, Red thought. He was a loud child. Too loud. He shouted more often than think of what to say. He was childish. He was stupid. Being quiet taught him a lot. It taught him how to become a better listener.

"I'm sick of your stupid attitude!" Red watched his childhood friend slap the insulting boy, but did nothing about it.

Throughout the journey, Blue kept slapping Green. Red never did anything about it because a part of him was glad to watch him get beaten up by a girl. Blue could freely express her anger and distress about her friendship with Green slowly drying up. Red couldn't. He shouldn't. He was too noisy the whole time and never listened or cared about what others thought of him. Silence was golden. By being mute, he learned that trainers felt uneasiness when he didn't respond to their questions as much as they would have liked. Red also learned how to communicate nonverbally by facial expression and body language.

The voices faded again with the sound of waves crashing against the ship's walls. S.S. Anne. Younger Red wandered through the ship's halls confused, unsure of where to go or how to relax on the ship. He didn't even know his destination.

"Bonjour! Red!" Green's voice greeted him loudly when Red reached the end of the hallway. "Imagine seeing you here! Red, were you really invited? So how's your Pokédex coming? I already caught forty kinds, pal! Different kinds are everywhere! Crawl around in grassy areas!"

At that, the rivals had another battle. As always Red silently guided his pokemon through the battle and always healed them when they were close to being fainted. His rival's face the whole time was anger and a hint of arrogance in his tone as he shouted things to Red. Red answered with all of the insults with silence. Green's last pokemon made Red hold his breath.

"Raticate, go!" Green shouted. The huge brown rat cried its name into Red's ears. A big pause came up again until Pikachu's cry filled the air that came with a crash. Raticate was Thunder Shocked and was slammed into the ship's wall.

"Humph, at least you're raising your pokemon!" He scoffed. The champion remembered seeing fear on his rival's face. The green eyed trainer ran out of the ship for the nearest Pokemon Center. That was the last time Red ever saw Raticate...

Fear struck into Red heart when he stepped into Lavender Town. Something about the town gave off the aura of something deadly. Everyone he talked to seemed depressed and unenergetic. Everyone whispered and talked in hushed voices. Something was very wrong with the town. To top it off, the small town had a Pokemon Tower that housed the graves of dead pokemon and trainers. There, he saw his rival again at the second floor of the Pokemon Tower.

"Hey, Red! What brings you here? Your Pokemon don't look dead!" Green didn't sound pleased. "I can at least make them faint! Let's go, pal!" There was bitterness in his voice. Red recalled him facing a tombstone when they met.

They battled. Red defeated Green's pokemon team, one by one. Red's pokemon performed their usual routine and followed their trainer's orders. By now, they have learned to read his body language and facial expression. While Green fought with anger, Red stayed calm the whole time, waiting for Raticate to show up. But he never called out Raticate.

"What? You stinker! I took it easy on you too!"

It never appeared. Red remembered Green's agonized expression when he left the silent trainer in that tower. He looked around and examined the nearby tombstone closer; the one Green was looking down at. All it said was, "Our dear departed friend. May you rest in peace and only remember the happier days." The date of its death was...several days ago. The same day that Red battled Green on the S. S. Anne.

Red leaned his tired body against a tree, taking in quick deep breaths. His body shook, both from exhaustion and the pain from the memory. That Raticate. _Their_ _Raticate_. And because of that one battle, no one can ever see that Raticate again. He slid down to the trunk of the tree, staring down at his hands.

"That's the champion!" an unfamiliar voice echoed.

_No..._

"Wow, he is so young."

_Stop it._

"A champion should be willful and strong, but this kid... This kid won't say a word!"

_Please, just stop..._

"Can he really be the champion? Sure his pokemon are strong, but there is so much more needed."

_Shut up._

"When is this kid going to be dethroned? Not a single challenger has come close to beating him!"

_Don't say another word..._

"I just don't think he has the qualities that would make a great champion. It doesn't matter if can just beat everyone. He doesn't seem to have any compassion for battling or for his pokemon! They just follow every one of his silent commands, like they are robots! How can we call this kid a champion?"

_Shut up, just, shut up! What do you know about being the champion? _Red's thoughts screamed out as his tangled his fingers in his own hair, his hat falling to the side. There was a time that the young champion felt joy in battling, and even though his life had gotten darker and darker as his time in the Indigo Plateau grew, he continued to shower his pokemon with affection. Rumors spread and words began to circulate as the young Red was buried under all the stress and expectations.

"Are you alright?" a familiar voice snapped Red out of his memory hellhole. The sound of a Dragonite's roar was faint, but definitely nearby. The man's voice came up again through the thick, unforgiving fog. "Hey, kid, can you hear me?"

_Loud and clear... Wataru._

"This is definitely not fair to you," the dragon trainer said. He approached Red shortly after the battle for the title. Wataru couldn't help but go after the silent trainer after he somewhat sensed the dread and darkness flowing from Red's aura. The man had a sixth sense. "I can see from your pokemon, that they are worried about you. I heard some people talk about you back in the main room. They need to learn how to keep their mouths shut."

_I couldn't agree more._

"Listen, there is a mountain that you can get to if you had turned left instead of going straight towards here, do you remember?"

_The entrance, right after Victory Road, of course. Going right would lead to Kanto, and straight is where the Elite Four were situated..._

"It's called Mt. Silver, and the place is very isolated, but the pokemon there are very powerful. I think it would be a great challenge for you. You seem bored here, and these people don't seem to make things any better." Wataru continued.

Red felt a strong and firm hand grip his shoulder; the memory conjured up a transparent version of the trainer right in front of him. He watched as the ghostly person say, "You're still young. A growing teenager like yourself should be out in the open on a journey, not here stuck within these walls. Here, if things start getting really bad, go ahead and call me. I won't judge your decision."

The figure handed a transparent sheet of paper to the silent trainer. Without thinking, he reached for it, Wataru's number, but when he touched the corner of it, the ghostly figure dissipated. He remembered that the dragon tamer would go up to visit the champion quite often. Wataru would rant about his lack of good quality capes and how his cousin keeps trying to murder him while training. Of course, he would go and battle the Kanto champion too. Red was surprised how quickly the man raised his dragons, though he always thought that three Dragonites were definitely overkill.

But at one point, he finally gave in with trembling hands. He gave the tamer a call. Red, who was still sitting with his back against the tree, heard himself say, "Please, please let me out of here..."

"Hi Red," Red stood up and glared at the source of the voice. It was Green. His expression softened to default stoic face. Puberty has hit his rival when they met again; Green had long lanky limbs that looked out of proportion and clown like.

"Green and I came here to visit you," Blue said timidly. She had grown out of wearing that black dress she always had and now had a winter jacket over her tank top and red skirt.

Red remembered them always coming every few months or so. Blue would carry a bag of textbooks and they would go over the material very briefly, enough so that Red could read the books she lent to him. Green carried a sack of food, blankets, and other necessities with a sheepish smile on his face. In a way, Green was like Santa Claus. The Kanto trio would quietly talk while their pokemon interacted with each other.

"Red, I'm now Viridian City gym leader." Green was always nervous when he came. Red noticed that his rival had a tendency of rambling on and running off tangents when nervous, which was nearly every time they met since Red went to Mt. Silver.

"Only because he finally grew some new brain cells," the girl smirked that day. Red had to stop himself from chuckling as he watched the two bicker about petty things.

"What are you doing up there?" A new voice rose from the mist. Red could never forget him. "Are you Red?" His voice was demanding. He reminded Red of himself so much. His loud personality, his rash style in battling, the clothes! They even looked similar to each other! The only thing that distinguished them apart was the trainer's even messier jet black hair sticking underneath his cap and for the startling color of his eyes.

"Let's battle," he said. Red of course only responded to his question by a quick nod and took out a pokeball, the universal sign of battle initiation.

It was a long and enduring battle on top of Mt. Silver. The blizzard harshly slowed down the pokemon's movements and made it hard for the opponent's team to hear their trainer's command. Red's pokemon had a hard time seeing their trainer's face in the battle and struggled themselves. After an hour of various strategies and healing items, the opponent narrowly defeated Red when both sides were down to one pokemon.

At Red's defeat he blanked out. It wasn't the usual blank out he felt when he lost against gym leaders. It was different. He felt...happy. Finally there was a trainer who could give him a run for his money. It has been a long time since he a reason to fight down to the very last pokemon. The only other person who had done that to him was Green. Several years ago.

That night, his newly rediscovered emotion was quickly demolished. In his dream, Green's Raticate died in front of him, in a repeated nightmare. Electrocution, over and over. He watched its fragile body twitch from Pikachu's shocks. Over and over, he stood in front of that grave and stared at the words, "Our dear departed friend. May you rest in peace and only remember the happier days." The same tombstone. Repeated hundreds of times to form itself into the Power Tower. Each tombstone saying the same thing.

"Our dear departed friend. May you rest in peace and only remember the happier days."

_I'm the reason why the only remaining connection we all had with each other, died._

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Extra Notes:

**narutomaki (1)** = Cured fish surimi in Japan, has a pink or red spiral pattern to resemble the Naruto whirlpools in Japan. The Whirl Islands in Pokemon GSC/HGSS was based off of the Naruto whirlpools located between Awaji Islands and Shikoku.

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**Author Notes:** Took some time to think about the chapter through. Felt sort of depressed actually writing about it. A reminder: two people are writing this story while there is a third person who beta reads it. To clear up any confusion, Red and Green had basically listened to their past selves. They relived their worse moments because what is worse than reliving your worse memory without the ability to do anything about it? Until the next update, see you next time...

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**RainSonata: **Good thing I had my notes out on Red and Green's past while writing this. There was a lot to cover in this chapter. Writing this makes me realize how happy and cheery Hoenn is compared to Kanto and Johto... (this is after I looked up the House of Memories, which is somehow creepier than the original Pokemon Tower).

**LunarAbyss: **Guess what! Satsuki not the only one with issues...! Though that is not supposed to make me happy... I swear, not all our chapters are going to be this dark. Q^Q IT'S OK, GREEN, RED. WHY ARE YOUR NIGHTMARES SO DARK AND TWISTED? coughcoughnotourfaultcoughsortacoughcough

**MikaStoryInc: **I feel bad for both of them. Green shouldn't have said a lot of the things he said to Red. Red shouldn't have shocked Raticate so much, but at the same time, he needs to speak up and stop blaming himself for it.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

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**Disclaimer: **We do not own Pokemon. Pokemon is owned by Game Freak, Satoshi Tajiri, and Nintendo. This is a fanfic with game characters of the main pokemon games. Their personalities are loosely based off of the games. The plot and original characters belong to us. We also don't own the Super Sentai series. Super Sentai belongs to Toei Co. Ltd, Toei Agency, and Bandai. This fanfic is written only for entertainment and self enjoyment. We do not and cannot make a living out of writing fanfics. The cover picture also does not belong to us and is drawn by Nintendo's Ken Sugimori.

* * *

"Ah, are you finally awake?" an old voice spoke clearly and slowly.

Green opened his eyes to see a wooden ceiling and a ceiling fan spinning round... Like his head. The gym leader slowly dragged himself up into a sitting position when the dull pain in his head spiked and throbbed. He instinctively reached for his head.

"One of the village's children found you and your friend at the edge of our forest," an elderly man answered his silent question. "I'm afraid the ghost pokemon and Zoroark decided to play a nasty trick on you two. Quite a few years ago, one of the girls from this village used to play with them all the time. And thus the pranks began, troublesome little fellas if you ask me."

"Eh..?" Green asked groggily. He was in a relatively small bed, with Luvdiscs patterning the blanket. The nightstand beside the bed was made of the same wood as the bed with Spindas engraved into them. The carvings were surprisingly detailed where one would see each of the rabbit like pokemon having different spot patterns.

"The Zoroark traps unknown people within an illusion, and then the Gengar goes and uses Nightmare," he continued without skipping a beat. "To make certain things worse, they don't hold back. People don't travel here or out of here without a guide anymore, although they always did use those tricks to trap people for the last hundred years."

"Guides?" Nothing made sense to the gym leader. Green looked at the elderly man, who was bald and had a short figure. He wore a white polo shirt adorned with the blue mouse pokemon, Marill and a pair of brown trousers. The gym leader stared at the red and white hat the senior citizen wore on his head. The hat had a green letter 'L' at the center.

"Our guides were born here in this forest, and we all oddly have some sort of immunity to Zoroark's illusions and are not as susceptible to Hypnosis, Dream Eater, or Nightmare as are most." The elderly man explained. "I suppose it's good for us, but I do feel for those people who accidentally wander into our section of the forest. We now have people patrolling around in case those pokemon trap innocent trainers who just happened to get really lost."

_What kind of place was this?_ Green thought. The forest was protected by pokemon. Ghost pokemon. _I should have listened to the locals,_ he mentally groaned. Wasn't it an obvious warning sign when the Azalea townspeople had that look of fear in their eyes at the mention of that part of Ilex Forest? Red told him to avoid the unknown path too...

"Red!" Green realized that Red wasn't in the same room as him. His head snapped up when he remembered the fog where he and Red were separated because of the ghost pokemon. He nearly jumped up and looked around as he asked in a not so nice voice, "Wait, where is Red?"

"Your friend?" the old man asked. "He's still asleep in the other room. You two were hit pretty hard, I was told that you two were found completely out cold."

With Green's awareness back, he noticed the bald short man was sitting on a wooden stool, fanning himself and a raccoon dog like pokemon on his lap. The Zigzagoon was curled up on his lap with a small smile from whatever it was dreaming of, a much better dream than what he had last night. Green found himself partially jealous of the raccoon dog.

"Most people are still somewhat conscious, which tells us that their nightmares were not all that bad." He continued, "The last time I've heard of a case with really terrible nightmares, she-"

He paused for a moment, making Green perk up and curious. He gave a sigh and continued on, avoiding the details of this other 'terrible nightmare', "Forgive me, she disappeared about five years ago, and no one has seen her since."

"Disappeared?"

"I'm sorry, but that is a touchy topic in this village," he replied with a tired and aged face, much unlike just seconds before. "We are still trying to figure out what had possibly happened to her... But anyways, that nightmare must have been pretty nasty."

"I guess it was," Green said without emotion, too tired to deny it. There was still wariness from last night's emotional episode. He felt like someone kicked him a few times. Well, he technically did, but it was a nightmare. He forgot how hard Blue could slap or kick. Ever since he mellowed out as a gym leader, the young man had not been beaten by his childhood friend in years, not something he missed.

"Sometimes, the nightmare and illusions are so powerful within the mind that the victim can actually feel or see what is in their nightmares." As if nothing happened, Green witnessed the man's worried look transform into a forced smile, an attempt to comfort the gym leader. "It's usually the typical embarrassing memories of the person, but occasionally, the victim would hallucinate or feel everything that happened in the memory!"

"I guess you get visitors all the time because of this?" Green stared outside the window to see several small wooden houses scattered down the path. The street was worn down and twisted. Each of the houses had a unique built with different colors of paint used to distinguish itself. It had a cozy feeling to it. A small harmless village in the middle of a giant forest.

"Hardly," he chuckled. Again, Green noticed that the laugh was rather forced. "Not many trainers are audacious enough to walk into this part of Ilex Forest with all those warnings. You would have to be deaf to ignore such warnings, especially from the locals. Interesting stuff I hear from the Azalea locals." He shook his head, "No, the last time we had visitors, she-" The short man paused, realizing that he was walking into the subject again. "Well, we never saw the visitor again."

The end of his sentence sounded suspicious enough. Again with 'she'. Visitors have come before, but the mention of the last visitor made the wizened man hesitate in continuing further. The gym leader wondered if this man knew anything of the legendaries. The village was in the middle of Ilex Forest; surely the elderly man had observed a few odd occurrences in the forest, especially when the village attracted ghost pokemon and Zoroark. Weren't Zoroark from Unova? What were they doing here?

"The Zoroark," Green said. "Why do they live in Ilex Forest? Aren't they from Unova?"

"The villagers once believed that they were descendents of the Zoroark," the elderly man answered. "A bit silly now, especially with science and technology advancing all the time, but that myth was once the vital part of our lives. That was a long time ago, of course. The Zoroark are from Unova, but some of them were left in this forest by..." He reluctantly looked at Green. There was an odd look in his eyes. "Isn't that odd?" He abruptly changed the topic, "That one can feel pain from the memory?" The bald man gave the gym leader an amused grin, "That must have hurt."

"Well," Green was going to say that he deserved it, recalling his own nightmare, but before the green eyed trainer would say anything further, the old man interrupted him.

"When I was a child, I knocked those pokemon right off their rocker. They were so angry with me, they all ganged up on me one day that I went into the forest to play. I had to relive the most embarrassing moment fifteen times over!" He still fanned himself with the Cherubi patterned paper fan. The cherry pokemon was adorned with cherry blossom designs in the background. The house's air conditioner was on, but it was still humid.

"I tried to confess to my middle school crush, and instead, I accidentally humiliated her," he rambled on. "So she roundhouse kicked me in my arse and pummeled me to the ground! Hah, I couldn't show my face to the school for the rest of the week." The man still wore that poorly disguised smile over his worried expression. Green was beginning to regret touching upon the topic of the last visitor and the girl who went missing.

The gym leader tuned out the aging man to inspect the room he was in. Besides the Spinda decorated nightstand, the room was cluttered with pokemon printed merchandise. The window curtains had Jumpluff prints where their cottoned faces stared at him with smiles. It was a small wooden room with a desk and a small television propped on top of the drawers. The small room had a doorway off the side leading to what Green guessed to be the kitchen or another room. Green frowned at the incoherent man, who was talking in an unpredictable manner where one topic jumped on to the next. His mannerism reminded him of his old high school literature teacher, who too had the habit of connecting irrelevant subjects to make sense out of the books he had to read. Was this really the person who saved him and Red?

"I'm sorry, but where am I?" Green thought of the outside, where between the small houses were patches of grass and flowers. The village appeared to let nature live alongside with them where it was fairly easy for wild pokemon to come in without craving in attention. It looked nothing like Goldenrod City, Violet City, or even Ecruteak City. It was a modest rural village that had some resemblance to Pallet Town.

"Oh, silly me," the man laughed loudly. "I haven't told you much, have I?" He looked outside of the window too, "This is Sacred Heart Village. My name is Toshiyuki. 'Toshi' like 'wisdom', 'yuki' as in 'fortune'. This village has been here for hundreds of years." He stroked his thin wispy beard. "After the war ended almost two hundred years ago, the people settled in and wanted to live in seclusion. It's small, but good enough for us. Very nice place, isn't it?"

"Um, yes?" _If you want to live with nightmares of your past,_ Green thought sarcastically. Why on earth would the villagers want to live in the forest with pokemon like that?

"What's your name, son?" Toshiyuki (1) asked.

"I'm Green," the gym leader answered quickly. "The other guy's name is-"

"Blue, right?" The old man cried. "Or was it Yellow? Purple?" He scrunched his brows in confusion. "He was on the television a few years ago, right? I'm afraid my memory isn't as good as it used to be," he said. "In fact, one time, I woke up and went to feed Zigzagoon his food, but when I left the house, I felt like I forgot something!" His loud laugh shook the room. "I spent the whole day going around the village asking if any of the villagers needed help, but I still couldn't remember what I forgot. Boy, was it frustrating! You youngsters are luckier than you think. You still remember everything like it was yester-"

"His name is Red." Green corrects him with the man shouting, "Of course!" The elderly man was very chatty. The gym leader noticed that as their conversation went by, the aged man was started to talk more and making his answers lengthier. Green was amazed the Zigzagoon was sleeping through all of it.

"Before I was interrupted," he coughed. "This village is located at the heart of Johto in the forest area between Ecruteak City and Azalea Town." Toshiyuki reached out his arm to the desk nearby to grab a cup of tea, "Like I said the village is protected by illusions of pokemon. The village is the remnants of a bigger city that used to exist before the war. The villager ancestors' ghost pokemon carried the honor to protect the village with their illusions to avoid the world's conflict."

"...what is this place?" a person moaned. His footsteps became louder as he walked into the sunny room with his hands shielding his eyes. His black hair hid the upper part of his face when he walked into Green's room. When he woke up, he found himself in an unfamiliar bed that didn't look like the Pokemon Center. His room was similar in design as Green's.

"Ah, you're finally awake!" Toshiyuki beamed at the pale Kanto champion. "Yellow!" He didn't seem to hear Green's mumbling, "It's Red..." and said, "Your friend here woke up not too long ago. Are you okay? You're as white as a ghost! Hahaha, you're not dead are you?" The newcomer stared at Toshiyuki's bizarrely adorned room and at the rambling man himself. Who was this man? Red gave Green a questioning look where the brunette replied with a just as confused expression.

"By jolly, I swear, I thought you were a zombie when my grandson pulled you in. I remember watching the first zombie movie when it came out. It was called The Return of the Haunter." Toshiyuki thought fondly of the memory, "It was a big deal in its day. I bought the tickets with my crush hoping that she would get scared and hug me but instead it was I who got scared and clung on to her like an Octillery the rest of the movie. A bit embarrassing. The movie was straight from Pokestar Studios with subtitles! Very hard to keep up with it."

"Your grandson saved us?" Red asked quietly.

"It was a good thing he found you two as well," the oddly dressed senior citizen smiled. "He was going into the forest to chase after his sister's Gengar. Funny little fellas, aren't they? That particular Gengar likes to wander off a lot and his trainer has gone away. This boy had to make sure Gengar didn't go too far away from his home. Today is Monday, you know. All of the normal, dark, and ghost type pokemon get to have some fresh air and run around in the forest like they would have before they were caught. Very refreshing to see a Clefairy hop around and eat those berries in the west side of the village."

"What is he talking about?" Red was still staring at the old man and his odd taste in house decoration. When he was walking to Green's room, he went past the kitchen, where the decorator chose to have it be water pokemon themed. There were blue tiles and the wooden cabinets all had small doorknobs with Horsea prints. The teakettle Toshiyuki was using to pour himself a cup of tea was painted orange with a gold tea handle and lid to resemble a Magikarp.

"Tuesdays are pretty scary with all the fire and dragon pokemon roaming around. This Slugma almost burned my garden last week. I had to use my Slowbro to put out the fire!" The old man was still talking in the back of Red's mind. "Wednesdays aren't as bad with the water and ice pokemon as a little extra water never hurts the forest." Red noticed that his smile was distant and firmly placed on his face, much like his own smile eight years ago. "Thursdays are pretty normal with the grass, poison, and bug types. That Caterpie nearly ate my daffodils! Boy was I happy to see it evolve into a Butterfree..."

"...Huh?" Red didn't hear a single word the bald man said.

"You must be confused," the man rambled on.

_No kidding_, Green was starting to block out half of the things the elderly man was rambling about.

"Grandpa!" A boy's voice called out from the front of the house. "I'm here!" The wooden door swung open to reveal a young teenage boy. His chaotic brown hair pointed in all directions and he wore a white shirt and a pair of jeans. The teen wore a scowl on his face.

"My name is Toshiyuki," the elderly man reintroduced himself to Red with a short bow, "And this is my grandson, Keigo. This young man saved you." He gestured to the boy who just came in.

"Sorry for being late," Keigo apologized to his grandfather. "Gen thought it was funny to play a trick on me and poured water on me." The boy was soaking wet from head to toe. It looked more than just a bucket of water.

"Ha!" The grandfather chuckled, "I told you to be careful of your sister's Gengar! All of them are a funny bunch!"

"Uh, thanks for saving us?" Green was unsure of what to say and stared at the young teen. He looked like he was in middle school.

"Thanks?" The teenager twitched. "I did more than save you!" Green backed up from the sudden volume change. "Dynaman was totally cool and carried you and the other guy out of the forest while I defeated those ghost pokemon with my-"

"Who's Dynaman?" The gym leader asked confused.

"My Machamp!" He looked offended for being interrupted. "JAKQ then flamethrower those ghost pokemon and-"

"Who...?" Nothing made sense to the young man. Was he going into something worse than the nightmare? A world of nonsense to eventually drive him into insanity?

"My Flareon!" Keigo looked unimpressed, "Haven't you ever heard of-"

"No, I haven't heard of whatever show you named them after," Green was getting annoyed with all this petty talk. No wonder Red didn't like to talk in pokemon battles and wanted to get to the point. Right now, Green wanted to get the point. How were they going to get out of here? They should have been in Ecruteak City by now if the forest wasn't infested with ghost pokemon.

"Not fair!" He whined, "You didn't let me finish!" He huffed, "Aren't you the gym leader, Blue from Viridian City?"

"It's Green," the gym leader mumbled. Why couldn't anyone get their names right? He could have sworn he saw Red wearing a bemused look when the Toshiyuki's grandson got his name wrong.

"You were defeated by Red, right?" The middle school student recognized the green eyed trainer. "I saw you two on TV!"

"How old are you?" Red asked.

"I'm thirteen!" He yelled, "Thir-teen!" He saw Pikachu lying on his belly on top of Red's head. How the trainer managed to walk around with the huge yellow mouse on his head was beyond anyone's guess.

"Thirteen... So five when you watched it..?" Green calculated out loud.

"You made a really weird speech!" The teen recalled. "I didn't understand it very well, but you sounded like a total jerk face!"

"...I have nothing to say," he replied, turning his gaze to outside the window. Green saw a Skarmory flying over the residential building. The steel bird spread its red metallic wings as it cried its name. He noticed that many of the village houses grew flowers and berries near their front porch; a small garden of sorts. Toshiyuki's garden grew vegetables and a few berry patches.

"School was boring," Keigo told his grandfather. "My English teacher gave us more homework today because our class failed the last quiz. Could you believe that? I had to walk home the other day because I missed the bus and Jetman (1) doesn't know fly yet."

"Jetman?" Red gave him a weird look.

"My Pidgeotto!" Keigo said exasperatedly, "Don't you guys watch-"

"No." The Kanto champion interrupted him.

"Anyways, Gramps! Today I saw a Spearow trying to build its nest. It swooped down and took some of my hair! It used Quick Attack and plucked some of my hair off, now you can see brown hair sticking out from one side of it."

"Oh no! Not the hair!" the old man winced from the comment.

"What..." the usually silent trainer muttered to himself. Pikachu cocked his head, causing Red to tilt to his left. He had to sit down on to Green's bed to prevent himself from tipping over.

"We both inherited beautiful dark brown flown hair; it is dominated in my father's side of the family!" The grandfather cried.

"Wait... What?" This time, it was Green who said this.

"See?" Toshiyuki pointed at himself. "We share the same hair!" Hardly...the elderly man was bald... Not a single hair on his head. The bald man's happy expression contrasted with Keigo scowling, probably not impressed that Red had no idea who Jetman was. "Anyways, it's a mystery how my son ended up with dark blue hair. He even passed down that trait to my granddaughter. She oversees the family ranch."

"Or makes me take care of everything while she wanders the big cities," Keigo mumbled in annoyance. "My stupid sister wants to release them every day so they could 'be free and get their exercise'." He made his voice high pitch in a poor attempt of imitating his sister. "She needs to stop catching so many pokemon!"

"Now now, if she didn't, then she wouldn't be able to-" Toshiyuki began to say.

"Then she needs to take care of them instead of dumping it all on me! I don't care if most of them are super rare pokemon, but it's so frustrating to have to chase down some of them every time!" The teen interrupted, combing his hair with his hand in anger. "She takes care of them and still gets top grades. I take care of them and I'm struggling in English! She should stay home to watch them. I don't know why she keeps going out to look for her when none of her previous tries resulted in anything!"

"Keigo..." the elderly man warned.

"I mean, she should have found a clue or some hint already!" He continued to rant, "It's been five years, and nothing. That's nothing!"

"Your sister catches?" Red suddenly looked interested.

_They mentioned her again,_ Green thought to himself. _Who is she?_

"Why hasn't she been found yet, I don't think Johto is big enough to hide a person for five years!"

"Wait, what were you talking about?" The gym leader suddenly interjected, trying to bring back the earlier conversation.

"The ranch?" the old man asked.

"No, not that. What were you saying earlier?" Green demanded to know.

"The runaway Gengar?" He stroked his thin beard while petting the Zigzagoon, who woke up from its pleasant nap. The raccoon dog stretched its limbs and loudly yawned. Green sighed and threw himself back onto the pillow.

"Well, maybe you would like to hear about my granddaughter?" the old man cheerfully chattered. "She loves catching pokemon. You should see the family ranch!"

"She catches..." Green snuggled into the fluffy bit of goodness. Could it be? Could she be the cause of the legendaries disappearing? But what would a girl want to do with a bunch of legendaries? "What does she catch?"

"She catches everything around the area! She caught Johto and Kanto pokemon. She gets so excited when she comes home to show us all these weird different colored pokemon. She even found several Dratinis out in the nearby lake! She only caught one though, which made her really sad." Toshiyuki was eager to tell about his granddaughter's accomplishments.

"Uh oh..." Green heard Red breath out.

"My granddaughter once brought home this strange colored Krabby. It was gold! Kinda like that Magikarp I saw many years ago as a young man. Gold as my wedding ring! Very sparkly but not that strong, I admit. It was a very happy Magikarp though."

"She refused to give me her Krabby," Keigo complained. "She has two of them! What's the point of keeping it to herself?"

"Legendaries..?" Green dared ask.

"Sure," the old man said. Green automatically zoned out the continuing noise so he could think. "Dare I say it, she must be legendary! She caught another gold Krabby (2) a few years later! Imagine that! Never thought it was possible. Perhaps Krabby was her spirit pokemon, even though she chose to take Psyduck with her instead. Did I tell you about how much she loves that Psyduck? Hugs it every day." He was like a giddy child bragging about his new toy from Christmas morning.

"Can you stop talking?" A middle aged woman in business attire walked into the room from the kitchen. "You're scaring the kids from all your rambling." Her red brown hair made her bright blue eyes stand out in the room.

"Ah, Yukiko, home already?" The bald man greeted his daughter in law. "What happened to the important conference meeting? Hello Tina." He greeted Yukiko's Glaceon who was walking besides her trainer. The blue ice pokemon had a pointed face and diamond shaped ears with a cold demeanor.

"We're not kids," Green grumbled. Red didn't add any comments but nodded.

"The boss cancelled the conference because his wife called him in the middle of the meeting," she sighed. "Can you believe that? And he tells us to turn off our Pokegears during the meetings. What a hypocrite...! Who are these two?" The business woman looked at Red and Green with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, you see. My precious grandson, your child, found the two of you in the forest completely unconscious." He turned his attention back to his guests. "Those must have been some terrible nightmares young lad. I say, those pokemon are horribly sadistic. I can clearly see them snickering back in their little cave. Terrifying pokemon really, but I actually do find them quite adorable. I suppose I meant that look at their giant fluffy bodies, it's begging to be hugge-"

"What were you doing in the forest?" Yukiko snapped at the two men, interrupting her father-in-law. "Foreigners like you should avoid this place! Did any of you listen to the people in Azalea or Goldenrod?"

"Glaceon? Glaceon? Glace, ceon. Glaceon, Glaceon, ceon!" _Hello? Visitors? We don't have many people visit us anymore; do you know if you found a berry bush recently? I planted one not too long ago, but I forgot where I planted it 'QQ'. _The Glaceon said happily with delight.

"Pika..." _Really?_ Pikachu was surprised by how...chatty an ice pokemon could be. This was a first. In fact, he never met an ice type that was so eager to start a conversation. Most ice types usually acted calm and cool at all times. Glaceon seemed normal enough...until she opened her mouth.

Red didn't mention that they were warned but stayed quiet as usual.

"Why would you even live here then?" Green snapped back. "You live in the middle of a forest that is run by nightmares and paranoia!"

"It wasn't always like that," she argued. "Besides, those born in these areas or have lived here for a long time eventually are recognized by the pokemon. They won't attack anyone they feel is familiar enough or that they know."

"Hm?" The Kanto champion looked at her curiously. Pikachu's ears perked up with interest.

"Glaceon, Glaceon, ceon!" _My mate isn't here, but if he was, I'm sure he would be very happy to talk to you too!_ The ice type chirped.

"Pikachu." _ If you say so._ Red's Pikachu was too tired to really care.

The electric pokemon spent hours in the forest wandering around waiting for his trainer to come back. He was about to fall asleep when a middle school student attacked the fog that only seemed to aim at trainers with his pokemon. His Machamp very cheerfully flung Red and Green over its shoulder with Pikachu sitting on the fighting pokemon's head. The Machamp threw an odd pose resembling one of those old Japanese superhero team shows. It was a weird adventure.

"This village had the history being Johto's former capitol, but those days are over!" She glared at them. "The village is done having the world focusing on them. The history of wars and bloodshed taught us to stay hidden from the evils in this land. Even this isn't enough! One of the children disappeared five years ago; this place still isn't completely safe!"

"Again with this girl..." Green mumbled to himself.

"Because of the missing child, my daughter and her friend have run away again!"

"It seems that it only brought on trouble..." Red concluded, completely annoyed by the amount of talking and just wanted it to end. "Who is this child?"

"She disappeared five years ago, shortly after our last visitor came to see the village. I can't think of anything else but that she ran away. She was alone here and she didn't have family anywhere else. I can't say her memories here are good either."

"I don't think she ran away Mom," Keigo whined. "I saw lights outside in the forest! Chiharu and Mirei went out to check it out, and you saw how they came back with scrapes and bruises! Mirei locked herself in her room for weeks afterwards even though she hates being home!"

"Not another word about this kidnapping nonsense. We don't know for sure, honey."

"But Satsuki isn't like that! She wouldn't have run away without telling anyone! I swear, that man isn't as good as he seemed to be! Why else did she go away so suddenly, and right after that man came too!"

"You mustn't be harsh on her," Toshiyuki said. The elderly man had a sad look in his eyes. "The poor child lost both her parents before she even became five. She had been watching over her home for six years before she went missing. It's unlikely that she simply ran away."

"Satsuki..." Red repeated the missing girl's name.

"What does your daughter look like?" The gym leader asked.

"Oh, Chiharu?" The redhead pointed at herself, "Why she looks just like me!" She smiled, "We even share the same eyes!"

"Didn't her grandpa say that she had blue hair?" Red whispered to his companion. Green's eyes were almost literally spinning in confusion.

"Do you know where your daughter is?" Green asked after clearing his head. Where would the catcher go? Maybe they could find the missing girl too.

The business woman closed her eyes, "She probably dragged Mirei to Ecruteak City. Mirei probably had her stop to get another badges. The girl always wants to fight more battles. I remember wanting to defeat the Elite Four when I was her age, but Sinnoh was a harsh place for trainers."

"I thought you were from here," Green said.

"No," she shook her head. "I married into the family. I met my husband in Johto when I was traveling."

"Toshiyuki!" someone shouted through the thin walls of the house. Footsteps raced closer and closer till a man screeched to a stop right in front of the room door. "Some punk kid entered the village, and he went and took something from _her_ house!"

* * *

"This place hardly changed..." a young teenager mumbled. The teen had short, messy and crazy layered jet black hair that only reached to the mid of the neck with side bangs to cover the teen's left eye.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" a kid yelled out in a demanding voice. His messy brown hair blew back from the wind. His icy blue eyes glared the 'intruder' down. "How did you get here?"

_Well this isn't good..._

"Why aren't you answering me?" Her heart fluttered as his footsteps came closer. Her throat suddenly went dry.

_Shit, what do I say? _Satsuki panicked while she kept her face in a straight poker face. She struggled to keep herself calm. _Maybe if I make a run for it, I can get into the house and out before he calls for help... Or I could battle him and make him black out, but what if I'm forced to bring out Entei? I don't think my pokemon are properly rested, considering all of the wild pokemon we ran into..._

"Pfft, you just hit puberty didn't you?" He snickered as he ran off without another question. The girl was too shocked to find the proper words.

"... He didn't recognize me?" Her voice was quiet near the end of her sentence. She stared at the young teenager running back to the main part of the village. _What was I expecting, after five years..._ she thought to herself as she watched the young teen bounce to his grandfather's house. How old was Keigo when they last met? Did he even remember what they did the last time?

Exhaling a breath of mixed relief and disappointment, she dragged her feet up to an old wooden house that was closest to the nearby lake. The lake was overcrowded with a horde of Psyducks, yellow little dopey pokemon that can't seem to think outside of their headache. _And I thought I missed this noise..?_ She asked herself as she whipped her hood over her ears, hoping it would block out some of the _Ow, headache_ or what_ was I just doing?_ These pokemon never seem to actually be able to completely finish a train of thought.

The house itself wasn't all that grand. A simple wooden house that was big enough to fit a family of three. The walls were painted white with a low red roof. The dusty windows still had the blue drapes to hide the view of the inside. A tiny flower patch was still in bloom where a few of the flowers were starting to wither away from the summer's heat. A stone path that led to the front step was worn out from use but was still in good condition.

_It's still the same_. She checked under the closest stone from the pathway that was closest to the doorway, pulling it straight out of the ground. Underneath was an aged silver key, quite clean despite being hidden for years. Perhaps the villagers took care of the place while she was away? The front of the house was surprisingly neat asides from the dusty windows because of the weather.

She slid the key into its proper slot and turned it counter clockwise until she heard a click and watched the door automatically swing inward. The first thing she thought was the word new. The empty house she left was no longer barren. A couple of couches were left to the side of the living room. They still had the sharp smell of new furniture with plastic wrap covering them. Other than the new addition to the house, it still remained more or less the same.

She immediately rushed to her room, praying to a nonexistent source that the village had left her belongings in that room. Her own room that she spent the first ten years of her life in. When she pried the old door of her room open, everything was still in place. The futon was folded to the side of the room with a box of pencils next to it along with a small stack of blank sheets of paper. A small drawer was played near the closet with one of its contents left open as if the previous dweller was in a rush to leave the house. Like how she left them open when she ran out of the house that night.

She dug through the bottom drawer and tossed all her old clothing out and onto the floor before reemerging with a small black box. She opened it to reveal a small necklace with a water drop shaped gem. Pulling the gem out of the box, water splashed within, creating a soothing effect to those who watch it. Satsuki watched the Mystic Water in her hand. The water inside of it dripped to the bottom of the gem.

She snapped her head to the window to her right, and saw a pair of eyes look down at her. Swearing out loud, she wrapped the necklace until it was secure as a bracelet and rushed out of the building. Satsuki made a straight dash for the forest when two people slid right in front of her, blocking the opening.

"Who are you?" the brunette demanded as he and his raven haired companion both reached for their Pokeballs. He had on a grey winter's jacket tied around his waist while his friend wore a red and white cap with a matching short sleeved vest with a black t-shirt underneath.

_Why...why are they here? _She recognized the capped man.

There were many poor attempts of trainers imitating his clothes and attitude, but there was no doubt about it. There is only one person could pull off that out of bed hairdo without looking stupid. He never spoke while he and the others were pursuing her. There was no need to. His red colored eyes said it all. And the one next to him, with the messy gelled light brown hair. No matter what strategy she could use or switch to, there was absolutely no way she can challenge and escape the Viridian gym leader and the Kanto champion, with or without the use of legendary pokemon. She frantically forced herself to think of all of the alternates, each sounding more ridiculous than the last. It was a lost cause before the battle could begin.

_I need to leave_, she thought. Picking a fight with the two strongest trainers in Kanto was foolish and almost begging for death.

"He took Satsuki's Mystic Water!" Someone behind her screamed out from the doorway of her house. She didn't dare look away from the two trainers before her. The calming effect of the Mystic Water was already gone. She saw Pikachu on one of the trainer's shoulder and felt nervous. That Pikachu... It was strong. The electric rat was standing with its head up with a look of determination. It was not a force to be reckoned with.

The short haired tomboy made a mad dash for her right, hoping that she would be able to outrun the two healthy guys while having the element of surprise. _If I am caught..._ she shook the thought out of her head. Even if it was them, nothing could help her situation. She could hear their footsteps coming closer to her heels. Without much effort, her pursuers caught up in no time.

"I'll stop him!" Keigo yelled out, crouched down in a quarterback's position. He went into a strange stance with one hand giving the victory sign. Satsuki stared at the short teenager with the thoughts, _Are you kidding me?_ and then deftly maneuvered behind him and twisted both his wrists into a hostage hold. Her face was callous the whole time, showing no signs of shock of surprise of the sudden appearance of the group.

"Wait, whaat?" He shouted out loud. _Why does he sound more surprised than he should be?_ Satsuki thought to herself as she dragged the young teenager towards the thick trees of the forest. She heard a couple of small mumbles and complaints from the teen as she forced him through the narrow path.

The gym leader and Kanto champion both stopped dead in their tracks as they watched with sweat drops as the kid scream out, "Oh no! He caught meeeee!" It was almost impossible to tell if the scream was sincere or melodramatic.

The moment Satsuki reached the first tree; Keigo realized how loose her grip on him was the entire time. The teenage boy realized that his kidnapper was oddly quiet, never said a word. When they were running, well, when his kidnapper was dragging him along, he also noticed that the punk knew where he was going. The kidnapper was running through the forest like he had lived there his whole life. They were walking perfectly on the pathway backwards without having to look around.

Keigo pushed himself around to ask in a low tone, "Do I know you?" He found himself staring at the stranger's hazel eyes. Strongly familiar hazel eyes, like he had known them from his childhood. The image of those pair of eyes many years ago. _How...?_

Her eyes widened, realizing that he was trying to remember, as she released him and sprinted further into the forest. Despite how well she knew the forest, she still could hear footsteps steadily gain speed. She spied a small cave hidden by a bunch of trees and other plants.

"Gen, gengar?" _Satsuki, is that you?_ A ghost pokemon called out loud, recognizing her scent. She couldn't see the pokemon, but she knew without thinking that the tall and round, purple pokemon was standing inside the cave with a wide grin on its face along with its friends. The other ghost pokemon probably sensed her presence and were looking at her through the cave's wall expectedly.

"Hide me." She demanded as she slid right into the Gengar's cave, knocking a few of the pokemon that were standing at the edge of the entrance. Her vision became discolored at the immediate darkness and only saw blurs of purple and black. She heard the sound of thumps and guessed that a few of the ghost pokemon tripped at her sudden entry.

"He should be over there!" She heard them call out to one another. Their voices soon spread out in distance. "He can't get away. Zoroark should be able to trap him, search the parameters!"

* * *

Route 36

"Are you awake?" She woke up early that day as usual. She was always a morning person and woke up when the sun rose. The trainer already brushed her teeth and was ready for the day. The girl looked at her friend with worry.

"Ugh," Chiharu moaned. Her usually neat braided ponytail was a mess from rolling in her sleep last night. She sat up from her sleeping bag and rubbed her eyes. Mirei must have found her and brought the sleeping bag with her.

"What happened to you?"

"I don't feel good..." She has not eaten since last afternoon. "What happened?"

"What happened?" Mirei's voice went high pitch. "You were gone for more than an hour! Helios came to me when I was about to look for you!" Chiharu's Growlithe led her to the odd stony stage where Chiharu was found kneeling on the floor in shock.

"Is he okay?" The blue haired girl glanced at the orange striped dog. Helios looked at her with sadness. Her Eevee was laying in the grass, talking quietly to the other Eevee.

"Helios is fine," the brunette said hastily. "What about you? What kept you so late?"

"I saw Satsuki," she whispered. "She was there. At the place where we played as children" The image of Satsuki facing the moon was still in her mind as the catcher pointed towards south.

"What do you mean...?" Mirei looked confused. Although she asked what her friend meant, the brunette already knew the answer. She was hoping that she would be wrong though.

"What else could I mean?" She said impatiently, "Satsuki was there. She was thin and sickly. There were bruises on her, and she was bleeding... And she wouldn't talk to me." _What was that? _ Chiharu thought of the dark shadow that flew over her last night. It must have taken Satsuki somewhere. Was it a pokemon?

"What, that can't be Satsuki," the brunette waved off. "There is no way Satsuki wouldn't want to talk to you or me for that matter." The missing girl was still the happy friendly girl in her mind even after all those years. Mirei didn't see alternatives to her schema of Satsuki.

"I'm serious!" The blue haired girl desperately looked at her friend to agree with her. "She knew I was there, she could clearly hear me ask her where she had gone!" Her voice shook slightly as she glared at the other girl.

"Stop it," Mirei's voice dropped to a low and quiet tone. "If it really was Satsuki, then she would have gone straight to the village and look for us. Stop with these stories."

"You don't know that," the blue haired girl said darkly. "It has been five years. There is no way she could be the same pers-"

"Stop," was all Mirei managed to force out without completely losing her temper.

"Growl..." _Stop it you two_, the fire dog whined.

"What if she couldn't talk?" The catcher demanded. "What if she has been gone for so long that she couldn't talk because she thought that we forgot about her?"

Her right hand closed into a tight fist. _Why do you ignore that possibility? _ She thought sourly. Did her friend really think that their search for the missing girl would end that easily? They initially started the search for their friend five years ago, but as time went on, Chiharu's faith was beginning to wither until last night. Even then it seemed unlikely to meet Satsuki again, especially with that shadow she had...

"Well, if she thought we forgot her, then wouldn't that suspicion be cleared when you called out her name?" She snapped back.

"Don't forget that it was _he_ who took her." Chiharu's blood turned cold all of sudden from her tranquil rage. "Did you forget of what he did to us? What he did to her?"

Mirei's anger surged further. "Then if she escaped, she would have returned here, where people she knows could help!"

"If would be hard to trust people if no one did anything to save you back then, huh?" Chiharu laughed sarcastically. She looked up at the morning sun that was slowly rising up at a two-ten degree angle. Eight o'clock. She was out for that long?

"That's nothing to laugh about!" Mirei's scowl made the other girl stop laughing, "That girl can't be Satsuki. She would trust us!" She refused to accept truth, which poked its ugly rear at the wrong time and place.

"Eevee, Eevee!" Leo attempted to lighten up the tension in the air. _Stop fighting over me!_ The brown dog hopped around and kept poking his trainer's leg to catch her attention. "Eevee!" _Look at meeee!_

"Vee!" _Shut up, Leo!_ His sister nipped at the Eevee to silence him. Leo had no idea what was going on...

"I'm done talking about this." Mirei growled as she turned around and stormed off deeper into the forest. A wave of guilt washed over her as she was reminded of the day she wasn't able to protect her friend - the day Satsuki was taken. She failed and she knew it.

"You can't keep pretending like this never happened!" Her friend cried. The brunette girl ignored her. Tears rolled down Chiharu's cheeks, unused to being mistrusted by her close friend.

"We're having breakfast before we head to Ecruteak," Mirei said coldly as she continued to walk away.

* * *

Extra Notes:

**Dynaman, JAKQ, Jetman (1)** = Keigo's pokemon are named after different Super Sentai series.

**gold Krabby (2)** = Believe or not, this really happened to one of the authors. She caught a shiny Krabby in Crystal game when she was eleven years old and then caught another one in HeartGold eight years later.

* * *

**Authors Notes: **We were originally going to only have Keigo show up twice in the story, but one of the authors liked his character so much that she ran off with it and gave him more cameo. Question of the chapter: What was your favorite part of Toshiyuki's dialogue? Or you can answer this question instead: Out of the three of us, who do you think is the beta reader? A favorite, follow, and review would be appreciated. Until next time, see you later!

* * *

"**LunarAbyss": **The old man [Toshiyuki] uses his wisdom and knowledge to ramble on and on. It runs in his family, or at least the men. The only shiny pokemon I ever ran into is Red Gyarados in SoulSilver, and I think that everyone knows, IT'S PART OF THE DAMN PLOT SO NO MATTER WHAT, WE ALL MEET IT.

"**MikaStoryInc": **I've never caught a shiny before... I do have a shiny Blastoise that I took from a used Black 2 game though :D

"**LunarAbyss": **But you just started playing... I've been in these games since Red and Blue! Q^Q THAT DOESN'T COUNT

"**RainSonata": **I just got into Super Sentai, so I thought having Keigo's team named after it would be interesting. Currently watching Jetman, Dekaranger, and Hikonin Sentai Akibaranger 2! I love Timeranger and Shinkenger.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

* * *

**Japanese Names:**

Matsuba = Morty

* * *

**Disclaimer: **We. Do not. Own pokemon. Pokemon belongs to Nintendo, Game Freak, and Satoshi Tajiri. This is a fanfic written for entertainment and for the sake of the story. Game characters' personality are loosely based off their game counterparts and OCs and plot belongs to us. We also don't own Super Sentai. The cover picture also does not belong to us and is drawn by Nintendo's Ken Sugimori.

* * *

Sacred Heart Village

"What was that stupid pose?" A bloodvein nearly popped from the side of Green's head. "What were you thinking?" The gym leader shook the boy's shoulders violently. For once since their first meeting, the teenage boy was silent and had to think before he spoke. Keigo was staring blankly at the green eyed trainer as he continued to say, "He could have taken you away, and hurt you!"

"No," the young teen said quietly. "I don't think she would."

When she dropped him, he automatically plopped to the floor. His legs were too numb from being dragged around when he was taken hostage. Keigo and the two trainers were now back at Toshiyuki's house sitting at the kitchen counter. Yukiko forgot to go grocery shopping, so the three were eating ham and cheese sandwiches instead. Toshiyuki himself was somewhere in the house looking for something.

"She?" Red's eyes widened slightly.

The trainer looked at Keigo thoughtfully; his expression was difficult to read. His Pikachu peeked over at Keigo as he nibbled on a Rabuta Berry. Earlier, the Kanto champion sliced the big green fruit into smaller manageable pieces for his pokemon. The electric pokemon was cheerfully popping the small pieces into its mouth.

"That's Satsuki..." he spoke in a whisper. "I looked at her in the eye. No one has hazel eyes around here and knows the forest that well." Keigo saw the questioning look from the two men and said, "She had us walk backwards without tripping." The wild pokemon around the area didn't respond to her presence. She was familiar to them.

"So, that was basically our missing girl?" Green said, still angry. "Then why did she take you as a hostage? Why did she run from us and the villagers? Why did she come back only to take that Mystic Water?" He angrily bit into the sandwich. The meal was basic, but it was like heaven since they haven't eaten for a while.

"I don't know!" he cried out, unable to answer any of the questions the gym leader bombarded him with. "I don't know why she came back and then ran away. I don't know why she grabbed that item. Hell, I didn't even know that she was still _alive_!"

"Let him breath," the Kanto champion signaled Green with his hand to stop. "He can barely even walk." Green shot an impatient look at his former rival.

"She came here when my sister had to be gone," Keigo said miserably. "If it was her and Mirei, then maybe they could have figured out why she ran off again."

"You don't know her?" Green's eyes averted back to the teen.

"She used to sneak out a lot into the forest to play with the ghost pokemon," he said with a shaky voice. "Once in awhile, she would take me with her. That's why the Gengar don't attack me when I'm around. If it really is her, then the adults won't be able to catch her. Zoroark won't try to cast an illusion on her."

As a small child, Keigo used to follow his sister around, who was often dragged into random adventures in the forest by Satsuki. He remembered his first time meeting a ghost pokemon when it jumped on his back. It didn't end too well since that pokemon was heavier than the average pokemon. Whenever he was feeling down, Satsuki would lightly knock at his bedroom window in the middle of the night, asking if he wanted to go play. She was also the one who got him into that cool superhero show. Keigo was always invited to play with them because they needed more characters.

"Ok, so we know that she took the Mystic Water... but for what?" Green pondered out loud. Sometime when Green wasn't looking, Red had already finished his meal and was now clearing the table. Keigo finished half of his sandwich, not that he could blame him. The kid had a very brief reunion with a friend and it wasn't even a good one.

"Does it look familiar to you?" Red asked Keigo. "Mystic Water?" Mystic Water was a small orbed gem that powered up water moves. Did she have any water pokemon? The champion didn't recall her using any pokemon when they encountered her. Keigo shook his head.

"She always had it with her," the middle school student said. "She had it before I could remember." It was always hanging around her neck before she was taken away one day. It was late at night when it happened. He was still asleep and dreaming of something that was irrelevant when he was awoken with cries and shrieks of his sister and friends.

"Back to the beginning," Green sighed. _So much for that clue_, he thought.

"Why did she come back?" Keigo asked the two trainers' question. He didn't look at anyone in particular. Why was she dressed like that? She was wearing a lot of black in July. Where were her pokemon? Did she still have them with her? The frantic look in her eyes when she saw two of Kanto's stronger trainers told Keigo that she was anything but happy to meet him again.

"Did she left something here?" Red questioned.

"I thought she came back to take Mystic Water," Green rubbed his chin in thought. "Did it belong to her parents?"

"No. All she has left of them is a single family portrait," the teen answered mechanically. "It's too big for her to carry around easily." It was a photograph taken from a studio in Goldenrod City. The photograph had Satsuki with her parents; she was only a toddler when it was taken. The portrait was always the first thing to be seen upon entering the house.

"Did she ever tell you where the Mystic Water came from?" The gym leader interrogated. Red was quietly taken in the new information with no comments or visible reaction to it all. He was in deep thought.

"The only thing I remember her telling me is that her best friend gave it to her many years ago. The person moved away after her mom died."

"How did her parents die?" Red dared to ask.

"Her father died in a car accident," Yukiko answered for her son, walking through the front door. The red haired woman came in with a tray of drinks and refreshments. "She was only three years old and also was injured in the incident. She watched her father pass on in the hospital. Her mother died from an infection with complications from stress a year later."

The business woman kept a cool complexion as she handed the boys the drinks. Red had the slight impression that this wasn't the first time she had told that story. A story that she had known by heart and could recite in her sleep without batting an eye. It was sad to see someone be so casual about it. Saying just the facts. Her voice was stiff and tense when she explained the death of the teenage girls' parents.

"Satsuki developed a fear for white rooms and refuses to go to hospitals." The woman recited, "Things always had to be messed up or she would get increasingly tense and break down. She can't stand perfection. I think it scares her." She one day came home with her first sight being the decorative plate she bought those years ago...shattered at the child's feet.

"You know her parents?" Red said in a low tone.

"My husband and I were very close to them. It was tragic to see Satsuki go home alone every night." She set the tray down on the kitchen counter and sat down. "When I moved to Sacred Heart after our marriage, Mitsuki was my first friend in Johto. She offered a tour around the village and helped me learn to adjust to living here. When I was pregnant, her husband Kazuma made sure I went to my routine checkups because my husband always had work." Her words were starting to blend together and lower in volume. Red and Green had to lean slightly over to catch her words.

The woman remembered Mitsuki (1), whose name matched her. It was like she was the personification of March. Green hair, dark hazel eyes with hints of brown and green in them. She was always calm and refreshing to see, like spring itself. Mitsuki always seemed happy and had a bright smile on her face when she greeted her new friend. She even helped her find a job in Goldenrod City when Yukiko had recently graduated from college.

Although it was obvious that Yukiko didn't want to think about it, she reluctantly gave them more details. When she talked, Red noticed that she wasn't looking at them. Her clear blue eyes have gone hazy. She looked past them as if they weren't there at all.

"This must be very hard for you," Green said sympathetically.

"There's no need for you to be sad for me," she replied firmly. It was hard to tell what she was thinking from just her expression. "You want to know what happened when she disappeared, don't you?" It was clear that she didn't need any encouraging words or coaxing to tell them the truth. It was as if she went through the same interrogation on repeats. Today was simply another day of answering the same set of questions. Her tone was boredom and indifference.

"Yes, please." Green couldn't believe his ears. Keigo was silent the whole time, still finishing his lunch. His Flareon was sitting beside its trainer with a concern look. The fire canine was always trotting behind its trainer with extreme loyalty.

"She went home that day in a rush, like she knew something was going to happen. It was shortly after our previous visitor had came into the village." He was just an ordinary man. His face looked like it was briefly shaven the night before and he wore a big vest over a shirt with trousers. A typical traveler. "Satsuki would go out to play with those troublesome ghost pokemon, so she was always the one to bring back anyone who got caught in their ridiculous pranks." They watched the woman shake her head as if remembering all the unfortunate travellers that would be dragged in by the child, shaking within their nightmares.

"You said that the ghost pokemon weren't always that bad," Green said.

She shrugged, "It's more like they came up with more sadistic ideas when she started playing with them. Like father, like daughter... They were always harsh on the travelers. The village hasn't been hidden that long for nothing."

"Is this really the former capital?" The gym leader thought of the rural village, whose buildings were built to fit small families of threes and fours.

The village took up less room than the total area of the forest itself. In school, they always had to read about the same war that occurred 150 years ago. Although the textbooks always recited the high casualties and the damage it caused to Johto and the other regions, the books were always vague on the cause of the war. The only thing the historical books would agree on was that the burning of a tower in Ecruteak City ended the war with Ho-Oh leaving and the revival of three pokemon.

"The capital took a toll when the war ended," Yukiko explained. "Many residents wanted to move out to avoid carrying the title of the city that caused the war. The rest of the city stayed behind because it was their home. They soon found that keeping extra buildings was pointless and torn down, most of them to be replaced by smaller buildings."

"Can you describe the night that Satsuki was last seen?" Red asked, wanting to avoid the history lesson.

"Pika?" Pikachu hopped off the counter to talk to Flareon, who was still sitting besides Keigo. _You okay?_

"Flare...eon..." _I couldn't stop her_, the fire type looked down.

"Pika, pika." _Things will be alright_, Pikachu tried to comfort it.

"Like I said earlier, she rushed home, as if there was something very important she had to attend to." The young girl's face had a determined look as if she was on a mission of some kind. "And that was the last I saw of her. That night though... I heard my daughter's screams somewhere deep in the forest. I ran out there as fast as I could with my pokemon already out, but when I got there, I found her and Mirei covered in burns, dark bruises and deep cuts. They were both crying, and stuck to some odd sticky substance."

It was blood. Blood mixed with something else. Chiharu was found embedded by silk, tough as steel. It was the silk of a Spinarak? Or was it an Ariados? Her daughter was found with her whole body and mouth sealed shut with a look of horror in her eyes. They had to take her to the hospital to help her out. She was in the hospital for days before being released. Mirei was somewhere a few meters away from her with the same shell shocked look in her eyes. Her pokeballs were left on the ground, half of them were broken and malfunctioned with sparks flying.

"As horrible as it may sound, personally, I believe Satsuki attacked them. It would be easy for that girl to get some of the wild pokemon to help her fight, she was always off somewhere in that forest. Those two just won't believe it," she had a sad look on her pale face.

"Would a child really do that?" Shock was all Green felt. "How old was she?"

"Satsuki was ten at the time. Chiharu and Mirei were eleven. They keep blaming the visitor, but he was still in the village after the incident! He was in the inn all night, there was no way he could have taken her far away in a single night."

"He might have an accomplice with him," Red said. "He has pokemon too."

"Anyone who came in or out would have been attacked by Zoroark, like you two were." She muttered bitterly.

"Does Satsuki have any pokemon? Any that would make her more easy to identify?" The gym leader urged her to go on.

"I don't know who she had with her then... Keigo?" She looked at her son, who was still moping in the background.

"...she had an Eevee, a Scyther, and a Vulpix," he answered reluctantly. Despite his mother's beliefs, he truly believe that Satsuki was not the culprit. Him being ditched in the hostage situation and unharmed was proof to him that she did not want to hurt anyone. If Satsuki wanted to harm anyone, it should have been him when his pokemon were the weakest.

"An Eevee? That's quite rare." Green noted.

"This Glaceon was the mother of many litters," Yukiko petted the ice pokemon that was sitting patiently beside her the whole time. "One of the litters had three Eevees, given to my daughter and her friends, including Satsuki."

"Flareon?" Red looked at the fire pokemon that was lying next to Glaceon.

"He was the last one a few years ago," the business woman said. "The rest of his litter died after their birth. Tina can no longer get pregnant because of that."

"You said your daughter was looking for her?" _The catcher_, Green thought. _What did she do for those five years? _

"You see, my daughter isn't here right now," she sighed. "She and Mirei always run off at odd times. They ditch class at the beginning of every trimester and try to look for Satsuki. How Chiharu still keeps her grades up is a mystery."

"What do they do?" Red asked.

Yukiko paused for a moment before saying, "Mirei is always dragging her to the nearest gym. She is always training her pokemon. Chiharu usually follows her and I would have to go find and drag them back. They normally don't get too far because I know the locals."

"Yet they escaped this time," Green finished for her.

She groaned, "There are only so many times they can run away. I think they need to learn it first hand that they won't find her. I'm letting them go." She was clearly stressed by the idea of her daughter being away from home. "I should have let her go years ago, all mothers of pokemon trainers do. I'm a spoiled parent." Yukiko gave a tired laugh.

"All parents have a hard time letting their child go off on their own," Red said after a pause, remembering how his mom reacted when he wanted to set off on his own journey.

It was Blue's parents who convinced her in the end that her son would be safe with his pokemon to help. Hearing praises about him from Professor Ookido was a bonus.

"I don't know," she let out a sigh. "I sometimes wonder how Kazuma and Mitsuki would react to their daughter wanting to run off into the world. I wish I could have asked before they passed away."

"Does Satsuki remember her parents?" Green felt like he was asking a foolish question. He was walking on eggshells now.

"She should, but considering how old she was, it is likely that she doesn't remember details."

"No," Red said quietly. "Children remember more than you think." Green looked at his friend questionably, but Red turned away.

"Where are you two heading to?" She looked up at them.

"We were trying to find a shortcut into Ecruteak," Green admitted with a nervous laugh.

"That was stupid and foolish of you," she responded with a hard glare. "Are you sure you will find what you're looking for without killing yourselves?" The gym leader only continued to laugh, finding her question too close to home.

"We didn't mean to get ourselves into trouble ma'am," Red replied politely. Green just stared at the Kanto champion, who was seemingly getting chattier since they have woken up. _What kind of nightmare did he have..?_ he asked himself. He also noticed that Red only seemed to be talkative to people other than himself. Red's normally narrowed eyes have widened so that it was obvious that his eye color was red.

"Keigo will lead you out," Yukiko decided to leave them alone. "The ghost pokemon and Zoroark won't attack you if you have a 'guide' with you." She stood up as a sign to excuse them.

"A guide?"

"Didn't you listen to my father-in-law when you woke up?" She raised her eyebrow, "Only villagers are resistant to them. And the guides purposely familiarizes themselves to the ghost pokemon and Zoroark so they would not be attacked."

"R-right..." Green didn't want to further embarrass himself by admitting that he wasn't paying attention to over half of what Toshiyuki rambled earlier.

* * *

Ecruteak City

Ecruteak City's famous maple trees were green at the moment when they arrived to the historical city. All of the houses shared a traditional architectural design where the low red rooftops were painted below the calm blue skies. At the back of the city were a couple of shrines for different deities with flowerbeds of assorted colors decorated at the front. Small statues of different pokemon stood at the small pond near the shrines with their stony fangs baring out. The most notable shrine was home to the Bell Tower, a tall structure standing over the rainbow colored town where...

"Isn't that the Burned Tower?" Chiharu said. The tower stood crooked and charcoaled beside the beautifully remodeled Bell Tower.

"Yeah," Mirei looked down at her boots. She looked up at it, finding it hard to believe that a building so destructured is still standing.

"Guess the Pokemon Center is over there," she pointed at the modern looking building near the city's entrance, except it had a dull red colored roof.

"I guess," the brown haired girl said dully.

"Oddish, odd?" _Are they always like this?_ Chiharu's Oddish asked as it looked at the two trainers who were still avoiding each other's eye contact.

After their very brief breakfast of berries and bread, the girls rushed through route 36 blindly, each of them doing their own thing. Mirei battled every pokemon along the way to train her team and Chiharu was busy catching any pokemon she ran into. The grass pokemon had a little bit of training from its trainer when it was clear that she wasn't in the mood for catching pokemon.

"Pidgey..." _They're only like this when they fight... _ Mirei's Pidgeotto flew over the plant pokemon. He was too familiar with his trainer's personality, who could stubbornly spend weeks ignoring what the other person was saying. "Pijoh, pidgeotto." _It will take awhile until my trainer listens._ The osprey like pokemon puffed out its feathers with a sigh.

"Gol, bat, bat, golbat." _Chiharu is pretty bad too_, the big blue bat pokemon reminded the bird. "Golbat, golbat." _She can be stubborn too. _

"Eevees? Well there is an uncommon sight to see in a historical place such as here," a man called out from behind. The two trainers and their pokemon whipped around to see a tall young man wearing a long sleeved black shirt and a purple bandana across his forehead.

"They are from the same litter," Chiharu replied, cautiously eyeing him.

"Is that so? I hope you don't decide to evolve it at night," he chuckled freely. "Fighting against a dark type would be a huge disadvantage."

"What does that have to do with you?" Mirei asked, clearly annoyed with the stranger for telling her what she shouldn't evolve her Eevee into.

"I guess my face isn't familiar to everyone," the stranger smiled.

His blue eyes contrasted with his sun kissed hair. Not that Chiharu would have admitted, but the man was rather handsome. He appeared to be in his late twenties. The man looked harmless enough, but experience has taught her that judging was a dangerous habit, especially by appearances.

"I'm Matsuba, the gym leader of this city. I'm guessing you're here as tourists?" Ecruteak City's economy was very much based off of tourism or politics, although there was always the occasional trainer who came for gym battles.

Mirei's ears perked up the moment Matsuba announced that he's a gym leader. She eyed him curiously, wondering why he seemed normal - if his good looks could be called normal - compared to all the other gym leaders they've seen.

"I guess you could say that," the blue haired girl said cooly.

"You're the gym leader?" The other girl asked as she was playing with her side ponytail. Her Eevee scrutinized the gym leader with an odd look in its eyes.

The blond haired gym leader examined the two different trainers with a keen eye. Their temperaments were so different. The blue haired girl kept a reserved personal, carefully choosing her words and body language while the other girl was indifferent to everything until he mentioned his status. Mirei's interest had suddenly shifted to the gym leader where she looked like she was trying hard not to bounce up and down from excitement.

"Yes," he nodded. "You're a challenger?" He grinned when Mirei nodded, "Come to my gym if you're interesting in battling my pokemon." The gym leader adjusted his dusky colored scarf, "I'll be waiting for you." The blond gym leader turned to smile at the trainers before he left, leaving the girls speechless.

"...Matsuba." Chiharu repeated his name.

"We're going to fight him." Mirei said.

"But the Pokemon Cen-"

"We're going." There was no point in arguing with her. The brunette wasn't looking at Chiharu when she said it. "I'm using Kazama."

The catcher raised her eyebrow. Her Alakazam? A nagging voice in the back of her head sent her a bunch of warning signs. The psychic pokemon was one of the first few pokemon Mirei caught. As an Abra, he was a gentle pokemon that was a bit of a coward. Kazama was then traded to another trainer a few years later as a Kadabra for evolution, however...

"Don't do it," Chiharu glared at the battler. "Use your other pokemon." Kazama was a psychic pokemon. The catcher knew what sort of pokemon Matsuba used; Mirei would have a disadvantage. Mirei didn't respond to her warning.

* * *

Ecruteak Gym

"Ah, a challenger," an old woman's voice greeted the two trainers. The dim candle lights lit up the dark foggy room, making it nearly impossible to see beyond where one was standing. The voice belonged to an old woman whose white hair was tied into a tight bun. "My name is Yoneko, medium of this gym. State your name."

Mirei straighten up her back and announced, "My name is Mirei, pokemon trainer. I challenge you to a battle!" She took out a red capsule from her backpack, "I'll start with Sora. Come out!" Red light briefly shone the dark room as Pidgeotto flew out of its pokeball.

"Ah, a Pidgeotto," the sage woman cried. "Then I choose Gastly!" A giant ball of gas came out of the pokeball. It had big goofy eyes with a grin on its face.

"Pid, geotto!" Pidgeotto cried, _Ha, a ghost type? This will be fun! _ The bird pokemon hovered in the cold air as it waited for his trainer's command.

"Gastly, Confuse Ray!" The medium pointed at the flying type pokemon.

"G-gastly!" _Don't be so arrogant! _ The ghost pokemon floated towards Pidgeotto with its eyes bulged out and a dark aura. A glowing ball of light flew out and encircled the bird pokemon. The effect was almost instantaneous. Pidgeotto started flying on one side of its wing and sloppily landed down on its claws at the floor, barely standing up straight.

"Sora?" The brunette trainer's eyes widened at the sudden disappearance of the pokemon's confidence.

"Pidgey, Pidgey, Pidgeoo, tooo!" Pidgeotto sang out loud. His shrieks made the medium trainer cover her ears. _Woo, this room is dark! Someone needs to turn on the suuun!_ The bird pokemon danced around the room with its wings spread out.

Gastly sweatdropped and said, "Gastly, gas, gastly." _It's always the same stuff. _ Clearly, this wasn't the first time its opponents were affected like this.

"Sora, snap out of it!" His trainer called out him name, "Try to use Twister on the pokemon!" She pointed at the ball of gas still hovering over Pidgeotto. "Sora!"

"Pidgey, Pidgey, Pidgeo!" _Happy, happy, I'm a happy bird!_ Pidgeotto flew up to the ceiling to do an air somersault. "Pidgey, pidgey! Pidgeottoo!" _I can stay happy like this allll day! _ He crashed into the ceiling and fell down to the floor with one wing pointing out. Pidgeotto was hurt from its confusion.

"Use Curse," the medium said calmly. Mirei and Chiharu watched in horror as the ghost pokemon took out a pin and pierced itself with pain on its face. It was a move they weren't too familiar with as they have never seen any of the ghost pokemon back home use it.

"Gastly," _Ouch, that hurts_. Gastly flinched at its lost of health.

"I'm switching out," Mirei announced. "Sora, return!" The catching capsule shortly shot a red beam of light to retrieve the bird pokemon back. "Kazama, go!" Alakazam came out. The human like pokemon came out of its pokeball. His long mustache has grown and he had acquired a new spoon since his evolution.

"Alakazam," the psychic type yawned. _It's too early to fight,_ it stretched its limbs and glared at Gastly. "Alakazam?" _I have to fight this weak thing?_ He scoffed.

"Gastly, gastly, gastly?" _Isn't it stupid to fight against ghosts with psychics?_ The ball of gas looked at Alakazam curiously.

"I'm surprised you chose a psychic type to counter my Gastly," the old woman voiced the same opinion as her pokemon. "I'll give you points for guts."

Not many trainers would risk using pokemon that were weak against ghosts. It was hard for her to determine if the trainer was brave or if she was stupid. "Gastly, use Hypnosis!" The ghost pokemon closed its eyes and reopened them. Its eyes were wide and staring hypnotically at the psychic type.

"Close your eyes!" Alakazam's trainer commanded.

"Alakazam, kazam, ala, kazam?" _What's the point of making me wake up to fight when I have to close them anyway? _ He glared at his trainer but looked closed his eyes anyway as Gastly approached him very closely where their faces were inches apart.

"Gastly, gas, gastly!" _Aw, that's no fun!_ The gas pokemon cried.

"Psychic!" Alakazam moved its arms in circular motions with its spoons. Gastly was flung across the room and slid down to the floor.

"No, my Gastly!" The white haired woman cried. She walked over to where her pokemon was to recall it. "You did a good job, you deserve a nice rest." She turned to Mirei, "Don't think the next one will be that easy," she smirked.

"Tell that to me after I defeat you!" Mirei had a determined look.

"Alakazam," Kazama complained. _I still have to fight? _ It gave Mirei a bored look. "Kazam," _How troublesome_. It turned away from his trainer with a stubborn attitude.

"Your pokemon doesn't seem to acknowledge you," the medium noted. "Are you sure you can take on Matsuba yourself?" She chuckled. That comment caused an outburst. "Gastly, fight this trainer!" She sent out her second pokemon, who was nearly identical to the first one. This Gastly was calmer and floated by its trainer.

"Kazama listens to me!" Mirei claimed, "He's just not a morning person!"

"Alakazam, alakazam, kazam." _That stupid Pidgeotto should fight instead, _the psychic pokemon talked over his trainer. "Alakazam, alakazam, kazam, zam." _He was singing about how happy he was and flying like a crippled Pidgey. _

"You mean because he's always sleeping?" Chiharu remarked with a tired face. She was sitting on the stony floor with her Eevee still sleeping on her lap. The other Eevee was using Mirei's bag as a pillow to take a nap. Just as she predicted, Kazama was very reluctantly listening to Mirei's commands. Something told her that Kazama was only listening to her because there was the possibility of him getting knocked out by ghost pokemon more than out of loyalty.

"I wasn't talking to you!" Mirei snapped back at the bored trainer. She took out two pokeballs, "Kazama, go back to sleep! Sora, come back!"

"Kazam." _Gladly_, Alakazam closed its eyes and returned to its pokeball. The other pokeball sent Pidgeotto flying out with a confounded look.

"Pidgeo?" _Did I really say all those stupid stuff? _ The bird pokemon seemed to have heard what Alakazam was ranting about a few seconds ago. Pidgeotto appeared to have recovered from its confusion while Alakazam was fighting for him. "Pidgeotto, geotto!" It looked at new Gastly furiously, _I will beat you up for having me make a fool of myself! _ It puffed its wings to make itself appear bigger than it actually was.

"Gastly, gastly!" _But I'm not the Gastly that confused you! _ The ghost pokemon cried frantically to the angry bird. It nervously hovered away from Pidgeotto, who was sending it murderous looks.

"Gastly, Confuse Ray!" The medium cackled.

"Gastly!" The ball of gas flew at the bird with tears in its eyes. _I'm sorry for this! _ It sent a bright glowing light and hurled it towards Pidgeotto. The bird had swirls in its eyes as it flopped over the gym again.

"Use a Full Heal," Chiharu stood up and looked at the confused bird, who was blurting out a very colorful choice of words. "I don't think Sora can make it." She took out the yellow bottle from her bag and handed to Mirei. "Ghost pokemon can't hit him, but I wouldn't risk it." She said all of this in a quiet tone.

_Better to be safe than never, I guess,_ the battler thought as she ran over to her Pidgeotto to heal it. "You feeling better now?" She stroked the bird pokemon's head feathers as the bird pokemon cooed. Once the brunette was certain that Pidgeotto was back to normal, she announced, "Sora use Gust!"

"Pidgeo!" _This is for making me confused!_ Pidgeotto torpedoed itself to Gastly and knocked it out.

"Gastly!"_ I'm sorry for confusing you!_ It cried as it fainted. Its trainer shook her head and returned the gas pokemon back to its capsule.

"Haunter use Sucker Punch that Pidgeotto!" The old woman took out her last pokeball. Her pokemon was a giant shadowy figure with floating claws separated from its body. It wore a wide grin and laughed at Pidgeotto.

"Ha, ha, ha, haunter!"_Ha, ha, ha, ha, haha! _It flew across the room and sent a punch to the pokemon's side.

"Pidgeotto?" _What's so funny? _ It grunted at the sudden attack. Were all ghost pokemon this weird? The bird pokemon thought of the weird ghost pokemon back in the forest. They all enjoyed playing pranks and it was hard to hold a decent conversation with them without having one of them break into laughter. Like this one.

"Sora, use Gust on Haunter!" Pidgeotto flapped its wings to create gusts of wind at the ghost pokemon. Haunter hovered away from the gust, but Pidgeotto was already there and sent another set of currents to hit it in the face.

"Hauunter!" It cried, _That hurts!_

"Finish it with Twister!" Pidgeotto sent out a tornado that hit the pokemon. Although the ghost pokemon tipped over from the force of the wind, it was still hovering above Pidgeotto with a sly grin.

"Haunter, haunter!" _Looks like I'm still standing. _ It laughed, "Ha, ha, haunter!" _ I'm no weak Gastly! _ It bounced up and down in the air at the annoyed bird.

"Use Night Shade!" The old woman commanded the ghost. The purple pokemon shot a streak of dark energy at the bird, but it went straight through Pidgeotto without any reactions. Pidgeotto was now smirking.

"Pidgeo?" _Now who's standing? _ The bird said arrogantly.

"You forgot that ghost moves are ineffective on normal type!" Mirei grinned. "I thought you were a ghost specialist?"

For once, she was grateful that her village was surrounded by ghost pokemon. Living and playing with them had taught her many things, like their type weaknesses. The medium lowly growled at the smirking trainer and pokemon. Her Haunter was looking like it was going to faint soon. There wasn't much time left.

"Gust!" Another current was made and flew towards Haunter. The ghost pokemon's eyes grew wide eyed as the bird pokemon crashed into it with its wing to the floor. The gym shook from the intensity of the attack. The fog moved slowly to reveal Haunter on the ground with its eyes closed.

"Haunter!" The medium cried. Her pokemon fainted.

"I win!" Mirei cried. The old woman grumbled as she called back Haunter and handed a few dollar bills to the winning trainer.

"You won, but that Alakazam." The medium brought up the topic again. She paused and said, "Don't think that pokemon will listen to you when you use it against Matsuba. Matsuba's pokemon are nothing to laugh at." She leered at the back of the room where the gym leader must have stood to wait for upcoming trainers.

"I'll defeat Matsuba," Mirei ignored her warning. "He has to listen to me. I never did anything to him."

"How foolish, this young generation is," the woman sighed. "I can feel the tension between you and your pokemon. He won't listen to you until you learn to understand his feelings." She turned back to see that the trainer was already walking away from her with the other girl, who was quiet throughout the battle. The medium stood up to pick up her stuff and walk out of the gym. She needed to head to the Pokemon Center to heal her friends.

The blonde gym leader stood patiently on his stage, awaiting the incoming challenger. His scarf fluttered ominously from the icy breeze that flowed through the gym, created via air conditioner. His ghost pokemon were sitting in their pokeballs with bored looks. The echos of the gym doors opening excited them when they realized that it wasn't the gym trainers. Their pokeballs rolled and shook from anticipation.

"It's alright, guys." He comforted them with a pat on their pokeballs. "They'll be here soon." The ghost trainer smiled fondly at his pokemon. Although the pokeballs were solid colored, he could tell that they were all grinning inside with their paws against the capsules.

"Why don't we battle now?" The voice from earlier said. Her sudden voice made the gym leader look up with a wide eerie smile.

"Welcome to my stage."

* * *

Extra Notes:

**Mitsuki (1) **= Mitsuki can be written with the kanji "third moon", as in March. Satsuki follows the same scheme where her name can be written with the kanji for "fifth moon", May.

* * *

**Author Notes:** What a dialogue heavy chapter. One learns much about another's past. So why did Satsuki return for her Mystic Water? And is Yukiko's beliefs right, or was Satsuki really a victim in that incident? Question of the chapter: Who is your favorite gym leader of all time and why? Reviews are appreciated. Come back and read the next chapter next time!

* * *

"**RainSonata"**: Somehow, I like the idea of creepy Matsuba. It fits him, considering that he's a ghost trainer. Maybe he's only creepy in battle?

"**LunarAbyss"**: Maybe, maybe not. Most people are not what they seem to be.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

* * *

**Japanese Names:**

Matsuba = Morty

Akane = Whitney

* * *

**Disclaimer:** We do not own pokemon in any shape or form. This fanfic is written for entertainment and self enjoyment. Pokemon is owned by Satoshi Tajiri, Game Freak, and Nintendo. OC characters and plot belongs to us. Game characters' personalities are loosely based off of their game counterparts. Please enjoy the fanfic.

* * *

Border of Route 36 and the Ilex Forest

"I know Satsuki isn't bad," Keigo ranted to Red and Green as they were walking through the forest for Ecruteak City. "I mean, yeah, you just heard my mom say all those nasty things, but she really isn't bad... If I watched my mom and dad die in hospitals, I think I would be terrified of them too."

"Where were you when we were walking in the forest?" Green whispered to Red, who wasn't paying much attention to the other trainer, who was talking in circles for the past hour or so. Keigo talked more than Red had in a lifetime. The kid was a real motor mouth.

"Lost," Red said in a low tone. "You?" He didn't see Green at all in the forest.

After Red and Green had their light lunch, Keigo led them out of the village with a nervous look in his eyes. The boy tried to give the Kanto trainers a much generalized tour of the village before rushing them to leave. As they walked through the forest, Keigo would randomly point out at different pokemon or landmarks and would recall his childhood to his uninterested listeners, who have learned that he could go off a tangent for hours. It was a warm day, but the sky had some small gray clouds grouped together. The weather here was different from the bright sunny day at Olivine City a few days ago.

"I'm not sure about why she also doesn't like things being perfect though. Once, mom brought home a really nice vase she got on sale. Blue and perfectly symmetrical in both design and shape. The next day, when Satsuki came over, she just kept staring at the vase." He continued on his ramble, not really paying attention to whether or not the two behind him were listening.

"Those ghost pokemon mean business," the gym leader gave a weak laugh. "They had some weird things up their sleeves."

"Huh," the champion replied. "What did they do?" Pikachu was walking beside him and was looking around at the lively forest. The big forest had many different types of trees and flowers along with pokemon hiding behind them.

"When we took our eyes off of her, the next thing we knew was that the vase was chipped on one side and that missing shard was indented into the wall. She kept apologizing like we were about to wring her neck for doing that, even though Mom told her it was alright."

"They..." Green paused and looked at Pikachu, who was too occupied with the surroundings to listen to neither conversation. "I heard myself." His voice grew soft. "I know I sound crazy, but..." The gym leader saw Red hold his breath.

"She hated being out during the day too. She was what you would call a Hoothoot, always being up late into the night. She would sometimes take me with her to explore the woods at night. This is why I know this place almost as well as I know the back of my hand," he said with a somewhat modest tone. "She still knows it better though, all the possible hiding places or spots where you can set up a natural secret base. And even where all the pokemon like to roam or hide."

Red stared at Green, who had an uncertain expression when he said it. The gym leader had to stop himself from continuing on, like he was attempting to find the right words. Keigo was still talking about something in the background about who knew what and Pikachu was stopping at a daffodil to take a wisp of its perfume.

"No," Red said. "I heard myself too."

"So that means...!" The gym leader felt ashamed of himself. He wanted to bury himself underground in Sinnoh and never resurface. He heard his worst memories when the ghost pokemon played a trick on him, so what about Red? "What did you hear?" Green was afraid to ask.

"I..." The Kanto champion was speechless. How to start? There was too much to say and how would Green react if he talked about their...? Red pulled his cap down to hide his eyes.

"Man, she really knew how to connect to pokemon," the middle school student continued. "When my sister, her friend, and I were with her, we never had to worry about wild pokemon in the tall grass. Satsuki would talk to them and then befriend them almost instantly. I don't know how she does it, but we could play with them all day and they wouldn't attack us as long as we were with her."

Green could sense his friend feeling uncomfortable and put his arm around his shoulder as a sign of comfort. "You don't have to say it if you're not ready." The green eyed gym leader didn't feel ready himself, but he took a deep breath and said, "I saw...no, heard, you, Blue, and me...playing together as children." He remembered their laughter shaking the leaves of the trees that night. Red nodded in response.

"But," Green gulped. "We got into a fight, and I got mad at you because Gramps was always favoring you and..." He had to stop himself from letting a tear fall, "I'm sorry Red. For all the stupid things I've said..." He cringed at his past stupidity. "I'm sorry for everything. I'm really, really sorry." He hung his head in shame and pleaded, "You don't have to forgive me. If you hate me, that's okay. I would hate myself too."

"It was like she could really talk to them and they would respond back!" Keigo said excitedly, steadily walking away due to his lack of awareness. "Once, I saw her just chatting with a Mareep. Like, sitting down and having a conversation with it. It was kinda weird, but pretty cool!"

Red gawked at Green, who was still giving him a slight bow in his apology. The gym leader said all of those apologies in one breath. As children, he remembered Green sarcastically saying sorry after a few pokemon battles, but this sorry felt different. It was a sincere apology. It was rare to see the gym leader apologize. Although it was usually Green feeling awkward for their conversation, now it was Red who was feeling awkward for being apologized to. The champion was unused to being treated like that by his childhood friend. It felt unnatural.

"Hey!" Keigo called out, gaining their attention. "Why did you stop walking? Do you need to take a break already? It's not even sunset yet! Wow, you guys are getting old."

"That little brat..." Green gritted his teeth in annoyance. He ran up to catch the kid in a hold, wrapping his arm around Keigo's shoulders and then ruffling his already messy hair into tangled knots.

"H-hey! Let go of me!"

Red didn't respond to Keigo's insult and chose to take a view of the flowerbeds Pikachu was playing in. The electric rat was seen earlier socially chatting to the forest pokemon with a smile on its face. Red hasn't seen Pikachu happy for so long. The pokemon at Mt. Silver were mostly aggressive from the rough nature of the terrain and for Moltres' presence, who was always in a foul mood. Before the champion could say something, he felt water drip on the tip of his nose. The trainer rubbed his nose and felt the warm water on his moist fingers. The two brunettes stopped briefly to look up and saw that it was raining.

"It's raining," Green forgot that it was rainy season and said this out load (1). The sky had turned to a dark gray color. The rain was light, drizzle really. Clear raindrops tapping on their heads and leaving them drenched within a few minutes. All of the forest pokemon have disappeared to find shelter while several water pokemon came out to play. A group of Marills waddled away when Keigo's voice interrupted Green's surprise of the sudden shift in weather.

"You can't do that!" Keigo continued shouting, ignoring the small raindrops drizzling on his face. "You need me to get you guys to Ecruteak City!" He wrestled with Green's arms, trying to get his hands off his hair.

"I think we can fight off a few ghost types," Green smirked just as Red tapped his shoulders. "What's up?" he responded.

Red casually took out a black umbrella out of his backpack and opened it while pointing at the newcomers behind the gym leader. Green's eyes nearly budged out when he noticed them. A massive wave of Gengar and its pre-evolutions blocked their pathway, each with an equally angered face. Forgetting that a thirteen year old boy was still in his grasp, the brunette man almost immediately released him from his grip. He caught Keigo stumbling away from him in a dramatic fashion with a comical expression. The young boy shook his head from the rain and covered his head with his red hoodie.

"Gen, gen gengar gen!" The biggest one cried out, pointing its tiny fingers at the three trainers. _Hey, don't touch him like that!_

"Pika pii!" _No, they are just messing around! _Pikachu countered, referring to Green having Keigo in a submissive hold. Both had their mouths wide open from the number of pokemon.

"Gengar?" _A Pikachu in Johto? _ Another Gengar looked at the electric type with new interest. "Gengar, gar, gengar! Gar gar gar?" The ghost pokemon picked up Pikachu and hugged the mouse pokemon with glee. _ I never saw one in this forest before! Can I give you a hug?_

"Piii..!" _I don't remember giving you permission..._ it answered as the ghost type happily danced around with it in its arms.

"Hey! Give back Pika!" Red called out, somewhat losing his cool with his signature pokemon being treated like a giant plush toy. The Gengar was tossing Pikachu into the air and catching him like a parent and child. The other ghost pokemon laughed at the shadow pokemon's antics.

"Ah, Gengar," Keigo said with a somewhat normal tone.

He met that particular playful ghost pokemon before. He knew it way back when Satsuki introduced him to it as a Gastly. The pokemon got so excited; it tried to give Keigo a hug in his face, but ended up almost suffocating the child instead. Despite its terrifying looks, that Gengar had a soft spot for small pokemon. It would try to hug pokemon like Marills, Jigglypuffs, or Clefairies every chance it gets. Keigo once saw Gengar bringing a baby Rattata to him, but the ghost pokemon cried because the purple rat kept slipping through his paws due to type immunity.

"Does he do that to everyone?" Red blurted out as he watched the big purple pokemon continue to hug his Pikachu. Pikachu himself appeared to be uncertain of its situation and was struggling to break free from the ghost pokemon's bear hug.

The other Gengar watched with annoyed looks in their eyes, a few even attempting to face palm, but miserably failing due to their short arms. Keigo answered, "Yeah, it tries to hug everything. When it's sad, it goes and hugs the Haunters or Gastlys, and when he lost a playful battle, he goes and hugs trees. Dunno why though."

Before Green could find the proper words to respond, he heard a loud shriek of, "Pika!" Red's Pikachu cried in the middle of the gym leader's train of thought. He looked up to see the electric rodent being kidnapped by the giant shadow pokemon.

"Gen gen gar~!" _I'm going to take you home~! _It smiled gleefully, which to the trainers and non-ghost pokemon; it looked sadistic and full of malice.

"Give me back Pika!" Red chased after the ghost pokemon with his eyes on his pokemon, who was still reluctantly being hugged by the ghost pokemon. The Kanto champion knew Gengar were fast, but this particular one was very quick on its feet.

"Keigo, please tell me it doesn't do that to every new pokemon it meets," Green groaned as he followed his friend after the lively Gengar and its friends, who were all grumbling to each other.

"Uhh, not sure about that, but when it's in a hugging mood, it doesn't prank people. Although, Zoroark would still trap them in illusions and have them walk in fog for hours."

"Thanks for the information, but we need to help Red right now..." The gym leader never considered the possibility of Pika getting kidnapped by a Gengar of all things. A jolly Gengar that apparently had a thing for cute small pokemon. Green ignored the fact that it was pouring hard and didn't bother taking out his umbrella and ran after his childhood friend to catch up.

"Gengar, gen, gen, gengar, gengar!" _I'm going to hug you, feed you, brush you, and call you Taro Tanaka!_ (2) It said happily as it ran towards the east, the opposite direction of Ecruteak City.

"Pika pi! Pikachuuu!" _But I already have a name! Let me gooo!_

Green sighed; it was going to be a long day.

* * *

Ilex Forest - Within Sacred Heart Village's radius

"Zoro," _It's been a while_. A tall dark fox pokemon with a crimson mane said with a wide smile. Its sharp eyes never left Satsuki's gaze as her lips twitched upwards on her own face. The fox pokemon stood on its hind legs and had sharp fangs and claws sticking out.

"It has been too long, how have you been?"

"Zoro roro ark, roark zo?" _The pokemon in the forest keeps it interesting, where have you been? _The pokemon looked at the girl with its dark blue eyes.

Satsuki shrugged, "Around I suppose. There is not much I can say about these past five years."

"Ro zo?" _Boring?_ The Zoroark asked, tilting its head to its right.

"More like nightmarish," she admitted.

She leaned her back against a tree, still facing the Illusion Fox pokemon. The dark type pokemon studied her face, noticing signs of malnutrition and the indifference she has towards herself. Around her left arm, mostly covered by her short sleeved hoodie, an old white cloth was hastily and carelessly wrapped to cover what appeared to be a dark red stain. The wound looked new, and judging from the amount of blood soaking into the bandages, it had reopened multiple times.

The dark haired girl chuckled darkly as she added, mostly to herself, "In the end, who knows. I might get to see my parents again."

* * *

Ecruteak Gym

Mirei stared at the gym leader, who was giving her a creepy smile. On second thought, maybe he wasn't a normal gym leader after all. The girl silently gulped but said, "Ha, let's battle already!"

"We will," the gym leader closed his eyes. "After we introduce ourselves. It is curtsey for trainers to tell each other about themselves before engaging in battle."

"Okay then," the brunette trainer narrowed her mahogany colored eyes full of determination. "My name is Mirei, pokemon trainer. I want to become a stronger trainer and defeat all of the gym leaders. I challenge you to a gym battle!" She struck a stance where her legs were spread apart and pokeball in hand. Her Eevee hopped around the small stage where the battle would take place, holding its proud head up, ready to battle.

"My name is Matsuba, Ecruteak's gym leader." the blond man reintroduced himself. "I have trained with ghost pokemon for as long as I could remember." He adjusted his dark colored scarf and opened his eyes. "As the gym leader, I accept your challenge!" He took out his pokeball from his belt, "Gastly, let's begin the show!" The dark room was filled with bright red light.

The ball of gas was released from its container. Gastly hovered slightly above the battle platform and gave a loud yawn. "Gastly! Gastly, gas, gastly?" _Ah! We're having fun this early?_ Its face made a wide grin. "Ga, ga, gastly!" _Ha, ha, haha! _

_What a noisy ghost pokemon_, Mirei thought as she watched the ghost pokemon happily float around its trainer like its birthday came early. "Kisaki, go use Bite on Gastly!"

Her Nidorina jumped out of the pokeball with a battle cry, "Nido!" _Let's get this done! _ Unlike her pre-evolution, Nidorina was turquoise colored with a pale underbelly. Her back poison spikes were more prominent and sharp edged. The poison pokemon landed neatly on her two hind legs and charged at the gas pokemon with her sharp fangs. Gastly easily dodged her attack and disappeared from view.

"Where is it?" There was panic in the girl's words. She frantically looked around the battlefield in search for any signs of the pokemon.

"Now's our chance," Matsuba smirked. "Gastly, Mean Look!" The ghost pokemon reappeared behind the Nidorina with narrowed eyes and a menacing look where its mouth was open wide to reveal a set of fangs and its tongue. Nidorina paled at the sight.

"R-return, Kisaki!" Mirei tried to recall her pokemon. She too was shocked from the ghost pokemon's frightening expression. She noticed that Chiharu was holding her breath as well. The blue haired girl was standing behind Mirei, away from the main part of the battlefield with her Eevee.

"Ni, do." _What, uh._ The poison type couldn't will itself to move. She refused to return back to the catching capsule and looked at her trainer nervously.

"It's no use," the ghost trainer said. "Mean Look doesn't let trainers switch out their pokemon."

"Kisaki, try to hit it this time with Bite!" She commanded.

Nidorina slowly nodded and clumsily ran towards Gastly with its fangs out. Once again, Gastly disappeared from view, but this time, Nidorina was ready and attacked it from the side. She sank her teeth into the gas pokemon's soft body and flung it to the floor. Gastly's eyes bulged out from the surprised attack and instantly fainted from the super effective attack.

"Gastly is unable to battle!" The referee announced; this one was a young man who was wearing a purple striped shirt.

"Ah," Matsuba sighed. "I guess you weren't ready today. It's okay," he bent down to return Gastly into its pokeball. He stood up to talk to Mirei, "Here in Ecruteak, pokemon have long been revered. Gastly was strong, but I guess I underestimated you." The gym leader looked sad before taking out another pokeball, "Let's see how you deal with our next friend, Haunter!"

Gastly's evolution came out with its paws grasping the cold fog that surrounded the gym's battle platform. "Haunter, haunter!" _Looks like Gastly didn't make it_, it said with forlorn. "Haunter!" _I'll have to fight you then! _

"Bite it!" Mirei shouted. Nidorina rushed to the ghost type, jumped up, and clamped its jaws at Haunter's paws.

Haunter shook the paw the poison pokemon bit and cried, "Haaaaunter, haunter!" _Hey, stop doing that! _ It flimsily floated around the room with tears pouring out. "Haunter!" _That hurts! _ It flew around, trying to make Nidorina let go, but the poison pin pokemon continued to hold on like an Octillery.

"Nido, nidorina!" Nidorina said through her teeth, _Sorry, no hard feelings! _ She finally let go and waited for her trainer's next order.

The ghost trainer rubbed his forehead at the sight of his pokemon still whining about Nidorina's bite attack. He studied the poison pin pokemon, who was steadily standing on her hind legs with eagerness to fight. Matsuba noticed that Mirei was constantly keeping an eye on her pokemon, but was also relying on offensive attacks. His plan came together in one thought.

"Haunter, use Hypnosis on that Nidorina." The gym leader said. His pokemon had swirls in its eyes and glared down at Nidorina, who wasn't expecting that attack. Nidorina gazed up at the ghost pokemon and made eye contact. Her red eyes abruptly snapped shut and her body limbed into a sleeping position.

"Kisaki?" Mirei asked. She went over to her pokemon crying, "Hey, wake up! We need to battle for the badge!" The brunette shook the poison type. "Kisaki?"

"Finish it with Dream Eater," Matsuba said coolly.

Haunter hovered to Nidorina and had its paws glowed white. Energy drained out of Nidorina and caused the poison type to jerk around in its sleep. Nidorina cried out in pain as Haunter continued to consume her dreams until her eyes opened wide for a brief moment before closing them shut again. Nidorina fainted from the super effective attack.

"Nidorina is unable to fight!" The referee announced.

"Use Sora," Chiharu suggested from the side. "Normal types won't get any damage from ghost moves." She stood with her Eevee, who had woken from her short morning nap. The other Eevee was already awake and was watching the match since it began.

"Eevee, Eevee!" _Pick me, pick me! _ Leo squealed. "Eevee, Eevee!" _I can take it down!_ He ran over to Mirei and jumped on his hind legs to bother his trainer.

"Who asked you," Mirei didn't look at the girl. She pretended not to notice Chiharu's hurt look and turned to Matsuba, "I guess I'll have to use a different pokemon." She grumbled and looked down at her Eevee, "Leo, go use Shadow Ball on Haunter!" The male dog like pokemon animatedly walked into the platform with a few hops and skips.

"Vee! Eevee, eevee!" _ I can finally show my beautiful moves! _ Eevee happily hopped into battle and charged at Haunter with a smile, "Eeveeee!" _Take this!_ A dark ball of energy concentrated in front of the normal type pokemon before it was launched at Haunter's direction. Shadow Ball hit the ghost pokemon squarely in the face.

"Haunter!" _Ow!_ It cried, once again taking damage from a super effective move. It was still standing, barely opening its eyes.

Matsuba wasn't expecting the Eevee to already know a ghost type move. The normal type pokemon was already considered rare in most regions due to their problem in breeding and for being domestic pokemon. It was even rarer to find an Eevee that knew Shadow Ball. He could ask Haunter to use Hypnosis again, but he doubted that the challenger would fall for the attack again after his Haunter knocked out her Nidorina.

"Curse." The ghost trainer made his move.

His Haunter didn't question his decision, but let a giant size pin solidify out of thin air and pierce itself. The ghost pokemon had a wild look in its eyes as it took the pain. Haunter had a wide grin before it fainted from its own attack. The room's already cold temperature sharply went down and made Mirei and Chiharu shiver from the abrupt temperature change.

"Haunter is unable to fight."

"What's with ghost trainers and using that move?" Mirei complained as she took out her jacket and wore it to warm herself. She didn't think she would need to use a winter jacket in the middle of the summer. She rubbed her cold hands and put them up to her face to heat them up.

"It is said that a rainbow-hued pokemon will come down to appear to a truly powerful pokemon trainer." Matsuba said, ignoring the teenage girl's whining. He retrieved Haunter and grabbed the pokeball next to Haunter's. "I have trained all my life to meet that pokemon."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Mirei was clearly not in the mood for cryptic messages from odd gym leaders.

"I see a shadow of a person trying to reach that pokemon's wings," he continued before taking a sip of water from his canteen at his feet. "That person will fly too close to the sun and have the wings melted with wax." He calmly threw his pokeball, "Haunter, it's your turn." Another shadowy ghost pokemon came to replace the last one.

"Haunter, haunter." _You must be something to defeat my brother,_ Haunter came out of its pokeball with an interested look at its opponent.

"Stop saying weird stuff!" The brunette grew annoyed by the mysterious messages the gym leader was sending to her. "Leo, use Shadow Ball on this Haunter too!"

"Eevee!" _Watch this!_ The brown dog formed another ball of dark energy between its paws and hurled it at Haunter. The ghost pokemon groaned as it took the attack and crashed against the floor.

"We got it!" Mirei cheered, but the gas pokemon jerkily picked itself up and floated again, still conscious for the battle. Eevee suddenly stopped jumping for joy and fell on its stomach from pain.

"Vee!" _Oww!_ The little fox rolled on the floor uncomfortably. "Eevee, eevee?" _What did you do to me?_ Leo dragged itself up towards Haunter with one paw with a depressed expression.

"This is the effect of my other Haunter's special attack Curse," Matsuba explained. "It deducts the user's health by half, but it makes the opponent deal with health lost for the rest of the battle. It's a move ghost types love to use."

"So it's like the move Leech Seed," Chiharu said slowly. Her voice startled both Mirei and Matsuba. She had barely talked during the battle.

"That's right!" He beamed at the blue haired girl. Mirei on the other hand, wasn't pleased of how casual Chiharu was interacting with the gym leader. The ghost trainer was getting excited now; there was eagerness in his voice when he talked. His pokemon were just as energized as he was from the heat of the match.

"A shadow," The blue haired girl mumbled a few words, "Wings...melted with wax..."

_He knows_, the catcher thought. She took a quick glance at the handsome trainer. The blond man had a puzzled look on his face. He was just as shocked as Mirei from hearing her voice. Chiharu rubbed her head and thought, _His odd statement from earlier sounded like a prophecy._ Could he know where Satsuki was? She made eye contact with the gym leader, who stared back at her, not giving away any emotions. His eyes were a shocking shade of violet, an unusual color; even in a world where having purple hair was considered normal.

"Why are you listening to his weird words?" Mirei sent her friend a confused look, "Don't tell me you believe in it?" She was getting nervous from hearing Chiharu mumble the same things the ghost trainer did from before.

"You two used to be close," Matsuba said in a low tone. The girls had to lean over their ears to catch his words, "One of you won't look at reality." He gazed at the girl with the side ponytail. "And the other won't consider other options for aid." Chiharu felt uncomfortable when he said that.

"Nothing is wrong with us," the short trainer snapped. "It was just a stupid argument, that's all." She didn't want the ghost trainer to know their personal problem. Why was he poking his head into their business? "What would you know about us? This problem is only between us, not you!" She glared at the blond man. "Leo, use Shadow Ball again!"

"Eevee, eve, eevee!" _Look how pretty I can make this! _Leo forced itself to stand up and pounced on the Haunter to unleash another Shadow Ball. The Haunter flinched from the second ghost attack and was barely hanging onto its health points.

"Haunter, haunter!" _Too bad you can't do much damage! _ It laughed, barely standing up.

"Eevee, eevee!" _But you're obviously losing! _ The high spirited pokemon chirped before whining, "Eevee..." It rubbed its belly as the evolution pokemon took additional damage from the Curse from the last Haunter.

"Sucker Punch her Eevee," Haunter zoomed to the Eevee and gave it a quick punch on the side. The normal type pokemon was beginning to look worn down from Haunter's attacks and from Curse.

"Just one more attack, Leo." His trainer encouraged the Eevee, "Give it another Shadow Ball!"

"Ee, vee." _Here is goes_, Eevee gave the ghost pokemon one last charge. Haunter stopped moving from the dark ball of energy and fainted. "Eevee." _I won_, Leo smiled before he fainted as well from Curse.

"Haunter and Eevee are unable to fight." The referee looked surprised at the results.

Mirei sobbed, "Leo!" She hugged her fainted pokemon and shot an angry look at Matsuba, "I'm going to defeat you!" She called out, "Sora, defeat his pokemon!" Pidgeotto flew out of its pokeball and was flying over the platform.

"I see you're angry now for my comment earlier," the gym leader was used to that sort of comment. Many of his predictions made his challengers angrily attack him for that reason. He showed his last pokeball to the trainer, "Gengar, let's end this."

This pokemon was as tall as a short grown adult. It was similar to Haunter, but Gengar was dark purple with limbs now connected to its main body and a pointed tail. Its red eyes glowered at the bird pokemon and wore a wide grin. His trainer was wearing a grim smile and announced, "Gengar, use Hypnosis." The pokemon moved its arms in circular motion and put Pidgeotto to sleep.

"Pidgjoh..." _So sleepy... _The bird pokemon yawned and fell to the floor.

"Not again..." Mirei moaned. She took out a yellow bottle and sprayed it in the bird's mouth, "Wake up, Sora!"

"Sucker Punch Pidgeotto!" Gengar formed a fist that glowed bright purple and jabbed the flying type pokemon from below.

"Pidgeo!" Pidgeotto snapped away as he clashed into the ghost pokemon's fist, which made it unable to react properly. "Pidgeo, geotto, geo!" _I can't fly! I can't! _ Sora moved his wings that were still stiff from his brief nap and from Gengar's attack.

"Sora?" Mirei peeked at her fallen Pidgeotto.

"Finish it!" The shadow pokemon gave the bird pokemon one more punch.

"Pidgey, eo." _ I'm sorry, Mirei,_ the big bird blurted out his last words before he blacked out from exhaustion. Pidgeotto grew still and didn't open his eyes.

"And Pidgeotto is out!"

Mirei couldn't believe her luck. Sora fainted. This was the first time any of her pokemon had fainted from a pokemon gym battle. Matsuba was taking out her pokemon like they were a bunch of leaves. She was hoping that Leo would take on Matsuba's team for the whole match, but Haunter's Curse did the trick and made him faint. She recalled the bird pokemon and miserably stared at her last pokeball.

"I had to use you in the end anyway," the girl whispered. "Kazama, please listen to me and fight this guy!" She cried angrily. The psychic pokemon was released from its pokeball with an inattentive expression.

"Alakazam?" _ I have to fight again? _ The psi pokemon yawned, "Alakazam, kazam." _ I thought I already fought today,_ it glared at Gengar, who was balancing itself in midair with its paws.

"Alakazam, I need you to use Psychic on that Gengar," his trainer pleaded. The girl was practically on her knees, trying to convince the bored psychic pokemon to cooperate.

"Alakazam, kazam." _Nah, I'm too tired._ He ignored Mirei's request and turned away from her. "Alakazam." _Good night,_ and he closed his eyes to sleep.

"I knew this would happen..." Chiharu didn't like where this was going. She rubbed her forehead in frustration.

"A pokemon that doesn't listen to its trainer," Matsuba wasn't amused. "And I thought I was going to have a fun challenge today." The ghost gym leader was no longer smiling.

"You think this is just for fun?" Mirei snarled at him. She turned to her Alakazam, "Kazama, use Psychic!" Her high shriek echoed in the foggy room. She was beginning to sweat, despite wearing a jacket in a cold room cooled by air conditioner and ghost pokemon's presence. Her pokemon continued to sleep; it was already deep in REM sleep. The brunette could hear Alakazam murmur in his sleep about whatever he was dreaming about.

"Why does your pokemon refuse to listen to you?" The ghost trainer looked at the psychic pokemon curiously. The psi pokemon looked pretty strong for a pokemon that belonged to a trainer with only three badges, "Did you over train him?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Shut up!" She hollered. "You don't know anything about us!" Mirei continued to beg, "Kazama, please use Psychic!" Alakazam refused to open his eyes. Gengar was starting to grow bored and was walking in the air while peeking at the psychic pokemon with an evil grin.

"It looks like you had him from the very beginning," he continued his analysis. "I don't understand how a fully evolved pokemon who has been with you since the very beginning won't listen to you.

"Wait..." Matsuba paused. "Did you do something to your Alakazam when you traded it to make it lose your trust?" He was looking at all the possibilities. "Is that it?"

"...!" Was Mirei's intelligent response to the gym leader's hypothesis. "I didn't do anything to him!"

"This was a disappointing match," the gym leader sighed, "Perhaps I was wrong to think that my prophecy had some relation to you."

"What prophecy?" Mirei was too dazed from Alakazam disobeying her to make a good comeback at him.

"Now's our chance," Matsuba shouted. "Shadow Ball!" Gengar grinned as it dark energy formed between its paws. The shadow pokemon floated up towards the sleeping Alakazam and threw the ball at Alakazam. The tall psychic pokemon jerked out of its sleep and stared at its pursuer wide eyed.

"Kazam!" _You-!_ Alakazam shook his hand at the ghost pokemon before he grew dizzy and fell back into unconsciousness, unable to fight.

"Alakazam is unable to fight!" The referee declared, "Matsuba, the gym leader of Ecruteak City wins!"

"I lost..." Mirei sobbed, "I can't believe I lost..."

Her mind abruptly zoned out. All she could see was her defeat playing in her mind on repeats. Nidorina being taken out by Dream Eater, Eevee fainting from Curse and Sucker Punch, Pidgeotto from Sucker Punch, and Alakazam... Mirei's mind furiously searched for other things to think about, but all it could find was defeat and disappointment.

She had never lost a pokemon match in her life, ever! Not even against Akane, whose Miltank made many trainers dread fighting it. Her Nidorina...she was sure that the poison pokemon would be quick enough to out speed Matsuba's ghost pokemon and use Bite before they could hit. Mirei didn't expect the ghost trainer to have pokemon with psychic moves... Leo and Sora were supposed to fight most of the battles for her because they were normal types. They weren't supposed to be hit... Although she was angry at Chiharu, she followed her advice and avoided using Kazama, but she had to resort to him anyway.

"Mirei?" Chiharu's voice popped out. "Are you okay?"

No, she wasn't okay. Mirei felt a throb on her forehead. Her mind was feeling hazy and confused. Her mind still playing the same images of defeat. The trainer attempted to look up at the gym leader who defeated her, but her eyes were watery from the tears. Her vision was clouding, different colors distorting her view.

"I don't feel good..." As Mirei said those words, her mind shut down and threw the girl into unconsciousness. The trainer blacked out.

"Mirei!" Her friend ran over to the fainted trainer and cried, "Wake up! Are you alright?"

"She'll be fine." The gym leader reassured the catcher, "She's just exhausted from the match. It was a long gym battle." He tried to smile for the teenage girl. "She just needs some rest and she'll be alright."

"Fly too close to the sun and have the wings melted with wax," Chiharu recited Matsuba's quote. "Interesting choice of words," she said. Her Eevee looked at Matsuba with big innocent eyes.

"Am I wrong? Is my prophecy close to home?" he asked with a hint of mystery as he started to walk off the stage to go heal his own pokemon.

"They say you can predict the future," the catcher said. "Could you be referring to Ho-Oh?" She gazed at the ghost trainer with new interest.

"Why don't you challenge me yourself to find out?" He smiled. His referee rushed down to help carry the unconscious girl to the hospital. "I'll be at the gym tomorrow at eight o'clock in the morning, don't be late. I hope you're more entertaining than you friend there." He chuckled at the girl's shocked expression.

* * *

Extra Notes:

**rainy season (1)** = Went back to do research and realized that Japan gets lots of rain in June and July. There are hints here and there that it's summer when this story took place, July to be exact. This chapter takes place on Monday, July 2 for those who want to know. Johto weather is based off weather in the Kansai region.

**Taro Tanaka (2)** = More or less the Japanese equivalent name for John Smith. A very common generic Japanese name.

* * *

**Author Notes:** Writing gym battles is fun! Especially when you can understand what the pokemon are saying to each other. In the original story, only Satsuki's pokemon could talk due to Satsuki's ability, but we decided that battles would be more interesting if the readers could understand all of the pokemon. It may be easy to defeat the gym leaders and Elite Four in the handheld games, but this is a story, this is much more different. If the Elite Four was that easy to beat in real life, everyone would become champion. It would be pointless to hold the title as champion, wouldn't it? Question of the chapter: Who is your favorite ghost pokemon? Leaving constructive reviews or comments are great. Until next time, see you later!

* * *

"**RainSonata"**: I didn't think the battle between Mirei and Matsuba would take up so many pages. The gym battles always feel so fast paced in the handheld games. I'm glad Red never decided to evolve Pikachu. The little guy is so cute!

"**LunarAbyss": **I had so little screen time... Maybe next chapter?


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

* * *

**Japanese Names:**

Matsuba = Morty

* * *

**Disclaimer:** We do not own Pokemon. We would not, could not, in United States. We will not, will not in Japan. We do not own them in 1995. We will not own them in 2015. Not in the dark, not in a bank! Not in by stocks, we're not that kind of rank! We do not own Nintendo in a box; we do not own Game Freak or their fox. We will not own them in a house; we do not own their electric mouse. We do not own them here or there. We do not own them ANYWHERE! (Oh, and we don't own Dr. Seuss's Green Eggs and Ham, enjoy the fanfic.)

* * *

Ecruteak Gym

"Kera, avoid that attack!" Chiharu's Golbat did a mid air somersault to avoid a dark ball of energy flying to its direction. The bat pokemon was blue and had wide wings with purple skin stretched over it. It had a big body with small feet and was taller than its trainer (1). Golbat's opponent zoomed around the platform, hurling itself at the shadow pokemon.

"Gengar, gengar!" _Stop running away!_ The shadow pokemon laughed, still chasing Golbat, who was flying around to avoid the ghost pokemon's grasps.

"Golbat, gol, golbat!" _I don't think so, buddy! _ Golbat narrowly flew away from another Shadow Ball. "Golbat!" _Not in your dreams! _ The bat hit the ghost pokemon to the side with its wing with Astonish, making Gengar flinch.

"Kera, Supersonic Gengar!" Chiharu shouted.

"Golbat, golbat!" _Never been happier to hear those words!_

Her pokemon briefly stopped flying away from Gengar and allowed the ghost pokemon to float to it until the two pokemon were a few feet apart. Golbat opened her mouth wide to reveal a pair of fangs and let out a loud shriek. The whole gym shook from the intensity of the sound. Her trainer already plugged her ears with ear buds before she announced the attack. The gym leader wasn't as prepared and covered his ears with his hands. A few of the gym trainers were heard complaining about the sound.

"Gen, gar?" _What, is that?_ Gengar tried to cover its obscured ears, but failed due to its short arms. The shadow pokemon cried, "Gengar?" _Why do I have short arms? _The pokemon lost its balance in the air and flopped to the ground. It was barely standing up with a confused look on its face.

"Are you alright, old friend?" The gym leader looked at his pokemon with concern.

Gengar had swirls in its eyes and struggled to look up straight. Matsuba admired this trainer's skill. Unlike the last gym match, this one lasted longer where none of Chiharu's pokemon were knocked out at the moment. He couldn't command the shadow pokemon to use Hypnosis because Chiharu's last pokemon had used Disable on it. The ghost trainer thought it was rash of her to use a Golbat in the match, but it turned out that this Golbat had out speed his Gengar and had managed to use Supersonic on it before it was too late.

"Gengar, gengar..." _You other pokemon are so lucky..._ Gengar mumbled. The ghost pokemon tried to walk over to the bat pokemon with its short arms reaching for it. However, the poison flying type easily avoided its reach and watched it cry. "Gengar, gen, gengar..." _You have long arms and can touch your toes..._

"Bat?" _Excuse me? _ Golbat stared at the ghost pokemon, wondering if she had misunderstood his words. The female bat pokemon blinked. "Golbat..." _Okay... _ She wasn't expecting that sort of reaction from her Supersonic. Most pokemon under the influence of Supersonic spouted random stuff, but this one took the cake.

"Gengar, try to use Sucker Punch on her Golbat!" Matsuba ordered his pokemon.

"Gar, gengar!" _I can't see! _ The ghost pokemon tumbled on its feet and fell over. It crashed into the floor and hurt itself in the process. It tried to pick itself up with its arms, but it was no use. Gengar then managed to float up off the ground to see its opponent being returned back to its pokeball.

"Good job, Kera." Chiharu recalled her Golbat and took out another pokeball, "Phoebe, Stun Spore Matsuba's Gengar!" The blue haired trainer threw the pokeball where Gengar was. The pokeball opened to reveal Oddish, a blue pokemon with big green leaves growing out of its head.

"Oddish?" _ Is this good enough? _ Oddish landed into Gengar and had yellow spores flying out of its leaves. Gengar was still levitating in the air, but its limbs grew stiff from the spores' effect.

"Gen. Gar." It grunted,_ I'm. Tired._

"Shadow Ball Oddish!" While the grass pokemon was still in close range, Gengar formed dark energy between its paws and launched it at Oddish's face.

"Use Acid to counterattack that Shadow Ball!" Oddish's trainer shouted. The grass pokemon wore a determined look and opened its mouth to have purple liquid shooting out like a waterspout. The acid hissed as it hit Gengar's attack where the ball of dark energy slowed down from Oddish's counter attack. Shadow ball and the stream of Acid fought hard for control over the other; both pokemon focused hard to fight the opposing side. Oddish positioned herself on the side while struggling to hold onto the ground with her small feet. Gengar was now paralyzed and confused, but it still had enough energy left to fight Oddish.

"Give it all you got!" Matsuba encouraged Gengar. The shadow pokemon's eyes widened from hearing its trainer's voice and broke out of its confusion. It mustered all its strength and pushed Shadow Ball further and overpowered Oddish's Acid. The dark ball of energy easily overcame the attack and flew to Oddish's face before the grass pokemon had time to respond.

"Oddish!" She cried, _Nooo! _ The grass type flew across the floor from the intensity of the attack. She felt the hard ground hit her on the side when she fell back down and whispered, "Oddish, Oddish..." _I'm sorry for not being strong enough..._ Oddish closed its eyes and became unconscious.

"Oddish is unable to fight!" The referee announced.

Chiharu walked over to her pokemon and said, "It's alright," she stroked Phoebe's leaves. "That was a good try for our first official trainer battle. You deserve a good rest." She took out a pokeball and returned the pokemon back to its capsule.

"I'll give you points for using the most annoying moves on my favorite pokemon," Matsuba closed his eyes before opening them. "But I won't be defeated that easily."

"That's good to know," Chiharu had a wild smile. "Because I hope that you didn't make me wake up this early to fight a boring match." She had to request her Golbat to wake her up with Astonish this morning! The catcher woke up with a sudden slap on the side by the bat pokemon and almost woke up the whole Pokemon Center with her cry.

"I take it that you're not a morning person?" The gym leader grinned ear to ear.

"You look like a night person yourself," the trainer crossed her arms. "Wearing dark clothes and a scarf in the summer? You either care more about fashion than convenience or you have a strange sense of temperature!"

"Thank you for your fashion analysis," Matsuba chuckled. "But I'm afraid this is a pokemon battle, not a fashion show."

"Asahi, let's finish the battle!" Chiharu called out her next pokemon.

"Vee!" _All right! _ Her Eevee, who was standing by her hopped onto the battle platform and made a battle stance.

"I'm glad to see I entertained you," he beamed back. The ghost trainer narrowed his eyes, "Because this fight is about to get tougher." Matsuba raised his arm, "Gengar, Sucker Punch Eevee!"

"Gengar!" _I can do this! _ The ghost pokemon ignored its paralyzed condition and bounced up into the air. It flew towards the evolution pokemon and hit the pokemon in the face.

"Eevee, eevee?" _Hey, what's up with that? _ The Eevee rubbed its hurt face with one paw. The punch made the normal type fall on her legs.

"Asahi, you okay?" Chiharu asked her Eevee. Eevee squealed and did a victory pose for being all right. Eevee jumped back on her feet. "All right! Then use Sand Attack!"

"Sucker Punch!" Gengar tried to attack Eevee again, but the normal type turned its back on the ghost and kicked sand into its face. The shadow pokemon was surprised by the sand and jerked away from the Eevee.

"Hypnosis!" Matsuba was sure that Disable was out of effect by now. The challenger ordered her pokemon to use Sand Attack again; her Eevee kicked sand into Gengar's eyes to avoid getting hypnotized by the ghost.

"Gengar!" _Ow, I don't like sand!_ Gengar cried from the sand in its eyes.

"Eevee, eevee!" _I'm sorry about this! _Asahi cried, "Vee, vee, eevee!" _But this is a battle! _ The female Eevee avoided eye contact from Gengar. The ghost trainer's Gengar attempted to use Hypnosis again, but Eevee continued kicking sand to the pokemon to avoid attack.

"Gengar, one more Sucker Punch!" Matsuba was starting to get frustrated from having his Gengar being unable to attack the normal type with its only attack that could hit. Gengar charged at Eevee again, but the evolution pokemon narrowly dodged the attack and whipped its tail for Tail Wag. The ghost pokemon tripped from Eevee's long fluffy tail and flew past her.

"Asahi, Tail Whip again!" Chiharu ordered. Asahi kept whipping its long tail to trip Gengar, who was now hurling several Shadow Balls out of frustration. Eevee grew cold from being hit by the dark energy balls, but they didn't affect her due to her typing.

"Eevee?" _Can I attack now? _The female Eevee asked.

"Gengar, gengar?" _Why can't you stand still?_ The ghost pokemon thrashed around the battle platform with dark energy forming between its arms. Gengar hurled another Shadow Ball at her, but the Eevee didn't react to the attacks.

Chiharu watched her Eevee continuous dodging and wagging its tail before saying, "Finish it with Bite!" Eevee hurled herself into the ghost pokemon with her fangs bearing out. She landed on Gengar's back and sank her fangs into the ghost pokemon. Gengar howled in pain from the super effective move and fell down to the battle platform. It sunk to the floor and lost consciousness.

"Gengar is unable to battle!" The referee shouted, "Chiharu is the winner of the gym battle! What's this?" He looked at the battlefield, "Chiharu's Eevee is evolving!"

Eevee's whole body glowed white. Her small body became a silhouette of light as the normal type pokemon grew bigger in size by almost a foot. When the light faded away, a new pokemon appeared in Eevee's place. The pokemon had silky lilac colored fur and was similar in appearance to Eevee where her ears have grown larger and she had whiskers. She was feline like and her tail had split into two like a fork.

"Espeon!" Asahi cried, _I feel stronger!_ The newly evolved pokemon walked around in one circle, examining her new body.

"Asahi?" Her trainer looked at the psychic pokemon in awe. The catcher cast her eyes to Matsuba and said, "I guess you must be glad Asahi didn't evolve into that Umbreon you were worried about." She giggled.

The gym leader sighed and walked over to the happy trainer. He took out his pokeball and recalled his Gengar, "Here's the Fog Badge." The blond man handed the small black badge to the trainer; it resembled the tail of a ghost.

"Was this battle entertaining enough for you?" Chiharu asked, grinning ear to ear at the new badge gleaming in her palm.

"Well, that certainly was an interesting match," the blond man had a rare smile on his face. It wasn't the same creepy grin he threw to his last challenger at the beginning of the match. "As promised, I will tell you more about that...prophecy I told your friend earlier."

"You kept your word," she said. Her Espeon sat patiently at her trainer's feet.

Matsuba raised a brow, "What? You were surprised?" He mocked a surprised look. "This is the fourth gym trainers usually go to for the pokemon league." The ghost trainer laughed at Chiharu's skeptical look, "Not many trainers make it this far. It gets dull waiting for the occasional challenger to come by. Not everyone can fight all eight gym leaders and win!"

"Why don't we talk about the prophecy?" The catcher jumped to the main topic.

"You're pretty one tracked too," Matsuba noted. "I guess you're not as different as your friend as it seems."

Chiharu rolled her eyes, "Do you spout prophecies to every challenger you meet?" She remembered Mirei's reaction to Matsuba's odd phrasing of words. Not that she blamed her. If one wasn't expecting it, the ghost trainer's prophecies could throw a person off.

"Not necessarily," the blond man sported a sly smile. "I can naturally reject someone's request for a prophecy too."

"You were referring to Ho-Oh," the girl said. "There's only one pokemon that is described as rainbow hued. It has to be the legendary pokemon."

Matsuba couldn't help but smirk at the trainer's conclusion. She obviously knew her legendaries. Not many people took the legends seriously. Sure, many have grown up listening to such tales of pokemon having the capability of be born from volcanoes or purify water, but not many have grown up to believe it. There was evidence of those pokemon's existence, but the accounts of their appearances were very few and spread out through history since the war. Anything recorded before 150 years ago tend to be hazy and inaccurate due to historians' bias.

"Correct," the ghost trainer said. "I was indeed talking about Ho-Oh. Did you also catch that I said that I wanted to meet the rainbow hued pokemon?"

"Yet you never met it?" Chiharu guessed.

"Yes..." He mumbled, he remembered the day five years ago. The day he battled a trainer who showed some talent in battling. "Someone else brought Ho-Oh's attention and had it appear above this city in the Bell Tower." Matsuba at first dismissed the trainer as an ordinary child who was only fulfilling his dreams of becoming a high ranked trainer. A few months later after the match, something happened.

"It was on the news," Chiharu recalled. The news reporters were talking over the loud crowd of locals who were all saying the same thing: "Ho-Oh is back." There were ambiguous photographs and videos of an orange blur flying over Ecruteak City on the news five years ago.

"And now, someone is after Ho-Oh," Matsuba said quietly. "That shadow will try to use Ho-Oh for dark things that I fear will destroy the balance of the world"

"You said this prophecy had relation to us," the girl said slowly. "What more can you tell me?" She looked at the ghost trainer for an answer. He was still deep in thought from his memories, it seemed. Chiharu saw that the referee was on break and was drinking from his water bottle. The gym trainers have left the building to heal their pokemon from their previous matches with Chiharu.

"I saw you and your friend in my vision," Matsuba was still talking in a low voice. "You and several others, but you weren't reaching for Ho-Oh's wings. You were at the bottom looking up at the pokemon." He wiped his forehead, "That's all I can tell you."

Chiharu didn't respond back immediately. She and Mirei were in his...prophecy? Of what? All she had acquired was that someone was after Ho-Oh and that it would somehow destroy the world. How would she have relation to a legendary pokemon? Was it even possible to meet Ho-Oh? It has been five years since the last rumor of the rainbow pokemon floated about.

"I don't know the details of what will happened to Ho-Oh," he continued. "But what happens to it must be prevented!" He shot Chiharu a stern look.

"What about my friend?" The trainer said weakly. Her Espeon looked worried and tried to nuzzle her trainer in attempt to comfort her. "Where is she?"

"Your friend?" The ghost trainer said surprised.

"You could predict things," she rambled. "So I thought...maybe you could find her?" He could see that she was trying to hold back tears. Her voice gave it away that she viewed him as her last hope.

"What about your friend?" How old was the friend? A little girl? A full grown adult? Matsuba concentrated his mind to search for this friend of hers but saw nothing but pitch black. Everything was foggy and unrecognizable.

"She went missing five years ago," Chiharu said. "We were trying to look for her." So that's why the trainer was so interested in his prophecy. She was trying to find a missing person. She wouldn't be the first one to do that. Matsuba have had many requests by locals to find missing items or pets.

"I'm sorry, but I can't see her." The gym leader said, "I'm afraid she's either dead or her future is too uncertain for me to see anything."

"She isn't dead," the trainer muttered. The gym leader barely heard her words. "I met her again just two nights ago, there is no way she is dead."

"Sorry I could not be of help. If anyone knows more about Ho-Oh, it would be the Kimono Girls. They helped the previous trainer meet the legendary pokemon; I'm sure they can give you some lead about your friend." The ghost trainer murmured all of this to the sad trainer, who was now looking eager to leave the dark building.

"I guess I should leave now," Chiharu said hollowly. "Sorry for wasting your time." She grabbed her bag to leave.

"Wait," he stopped her. "You forgot to take this." He handed a purple CD to the trainer. "It's TM36," Matsuba explained when he saw Chiharu's confused face. "It teaches your pokemon the move Sludge Bomb. Usually, I would give trainers Shadow Ball, but it doesn't look like you need it at all. Well... Unless you want to teach your team Shadow Ball."

"No, that's fine..." Chiharu didn't think she wanted to have two pokemon with the ghost type move. Asahi already enjoyed using that attack too often in battle.

"You must be ecstatic that your psychic type can counter ghost types..."

"Hm," she said. The trainer picked up her stuff again and replied, "You seem to enjoy creeping out your challengers." She gave the ghost trainer a shrug and left the gym before he could make a comeback.

* * *

Mirei woke up to the sound of rain tapping on window at her bedside. A groan nearly escaped from brunette trainer at the sight of the rainclouds while stretching one arm out with a yawn. The girl was in a regular bedroom the Pokemon Center provided. Her bed was the bottom of the wooden bunk bed. A writing desk was set against the wall beside the dressing drawer. The room was plain and went by the deep red colored scheme the rest of Ecruteak seemed to practice. It was hard to tell what time it was since the sun wasn't out. It looked so dreary outside, she wished that it wouldn't rain so much in the summer.

"What time is it?" Mirei sat up, "Chiharu?" She turned her head around in search of the blue haired girl. She looked up to the top of the bunk bed for her friend, but the bed was empty with the red sheets tossed to the side and undone.

"_Dear Mirei, I'm already up and running some errands. Tried to wake you up, but you slept like a log. Don't get mad 'cause, hey, I tried. Will see you later tonight back in this room._

_-Chiharu"_

"Wait, what time did Chiharu wake up?" The brunette asked herself. It was rare for Chiharu to wake up before she did. "It's only eleven!"

"Nidorina, rina." _She woke up at seven_, her Nidorina answered her trainer's question. Mirei however, did not understand poketalk. The turquoise colored pokemon was out of her pokeball and was patiently sitting beside the bed.

"Eevee, eevee, vee!" _She was in a bad mood! _ Leo laughed, "Eevee, vee, eevee?" _Did you see Kera slap her awake? _ Chiharu's Golbat reluctantly flew over to her trainer and smacked the girl on the cheek with her wing. The trainer rubbed her cheek while brushing her teeth that morning. Leo was sleeping with his trainer when he woke up to Chiharu's shriek. The male Eevee tried to get her attention, but he was ignored with a few unintelligible complaints.

Mirei was still in her everyday clothes and went to the bathroom to change out of them. The pokemon heard her turn on the showerhead inside the bathroom. Her pokemon rolled around the unmade bed as they waited, rumpling up the sheets and blankets into a nice messy lump of fabric. Leo stopped, lying on his back to see his trainer run out in a rush.

"I can't believe it!" She practically screeched to herself. "That stupid gym leader defeated me! I never lose!" The girl huffed angrily. "How was I supposed to know that Haunter would know Dream Eater? It doesn't learn that move on its own that early!" Mirei impatiently turned on the blow-dryer and waited for it to heat up.

"Pidgey, geotto?" Pidgeotto asked, _Maybe I should have kept Whirlwind as a move?_ The bird pokemon sat on top of bunk bed since he was too big to fit at the bottom with the rest of the team.

"Alakazam, kazam." _She should have used Leo instead._ Her Alakazam said in a bored tone. "Kazam, alakazam, kazam." _She made me battle twice in a day_, the psychic type looked extremely annoyed at the very thought of participating in more than one fight.

"He even gave me that creepy grin!" She shuddered from the memory. "That's it, I'm going to wipe that smile right off his face!" The battler struck a pose, pointing at her pokemon, "And you guys are going to help!"

"Nidorina?" _By?_ The poison pin pokemon tilted her head.

"Everyone!" Mirei called out all of her pokemon's attention. "Today, we are going to train until we drop!" The trainer beamed.

"Ee? Eve ee, eevee!?" _More? Oh come on, why!? _The little brown dog looked at his trainer with pleading eyes. "Ee, eevee, eve?" _Do we really have to do this?_ He jumped on his trainer's leg and whimpered.

"Alakazam." _And you wonder why I hate battling,_ the Alakazam sighed.

"That's the spirit!" Mirei completely misunderstood her pokemon's' whines, thinking that they were cries of enthusiasm. Nidorina was still sitting in the same spot and looked down at the beige colored tiles of the room in gloom. Alakazam was in his usual position of sitting by Indian style with his head resting on his hand with an unenthusiastic expression. Pidgeotto nearly fell off of Chiharu's bed at the mention of additional training.

"Nido, ni ri rina..?" _But, didn't we train our butts off the other day..?_

"I know just the perfect place to train!" The brunette sang.

"Eevee," Sometimes_ I wish she can talk to pokemon. _Leo rested his head on Mirei's lap with a sad look on his face.

"Pidgeotto?" _Wasn't it on the news that this one guy in a different region can do that? _The bird pokemon chirped in excitement.

"Eve! Eevee ee ee vee!" _Great! Let's have him come and tell Mirei how we feel! _Eevee jumped on the bed very eagerly.

"Ni, na nido dori!" _Idiot, he is in another region! _Nidorina nearly did a face palm at the normal type's declaration. The poison type pokemon walked over to lightly bop Eevee on the head. The Eevee cried at the gesture.

"Eevee, eve!" _But I'm the leader of this group!_ The evolution pokemon whined, "Eevee, eve, ee, vee!" _I was here first before all of you guys! _He hopped off of his trainer's lap and trotted to the pokemon.

"Nidorina..?" _So how are you going to get this guy to come over then..? _Kisaki didn't bother to point out that despite being Mirei's first pokemon, it was her who participated more in battles than Eevee did. The Nidorina was favored for her high physical attacks and tendency of poisoning opponents in battles.

"Let's go, guys!" Their trainer said, "What are you waiting for? Don't you guys want to defeat that creep?" The girl struck a grin as all her pokemon groaned in union.

* * *

Route 37

After much effort of dragging out all her pokemon, especially Alakazam, Mirei had finally managed to take them to a route nearby the city. The pokemon have been to this route before, earlier when Mirei and Chiharu were walking very far apart from each other to the city. It was full of wild pokemon like Stantlers and Growlithes, who both participated in the eternal battle of survival. Chiharu refused to stay at route 37 for the night due to the Spinaraks making the quiet route their natural home. The girl cringed at the appearance of the arachnid pokemon.

"Come on! You can do it!" Mirei cheered as her Eevee shot a Shadow Ball at a wild Growlithe. Eevee dashed to the fire dog pokemon, twisting and turning, avoiding the pokemon's fire moves. The normal type pounced off the grass and hurled the ghost attack at his opponent. Growlithe groaned from the attack and left the route after throwing Eevee a dirty look.

Her Nidorina was off chasing down Stantlers and Pidgeotto scouted the sky for wilder pokemon. Alakazam managed to run off and hide beneath the shade of a fairly large tree for a nap. He was out of Mirei's sight, who gave up trying to train him after a while. The psychic pokemon would give her an annoyed look and used his Psychic to levitate her away from him.

"Pidgeo, geo, tto." _It isn't right to chase all these Pidgey_, Sora said with forlorn. "Pidgeotto, pidgey, pidgey, geo." _They need to have a chance to survive with the flock, not faint and get lost._ The bird pokemon created a wind current to aim at the smaller bird. "Pidgey..." _We should stop..._

"Nido, nidorina," _I would if I could... STAY STILL,_ she growled at the escaping deer like pokemon as her claws scraped against the trees.

"Alakazam, kazam." Alakzam's voice floated in, saying, _Of course you could. _"Alakazam, ka, kazam." _You can ignore her. _ He was still resting under the trees; the psychic pokemon was half awake when he listened into their conversation.

"Nido, nido, rina!" _Easy for you to say! _ The poison type said, "Nido, ri, rina!" _ She still keeps you because you're the strongest! _She defeated the deer pokemon with a Double Kick and watched the Stantler limb away. Alakazam didn't reply to Nidorina's statement and chose to close his eyes.

After Eevee defeated that Growlithe, his trainer focused on Pidgeotto instead. The normal pokemon saw his chance and wandered away from the training site. He walked through a few patches and grass further down south, enjoying the quiet peace. Close enough to still see his teammates, but far enough to barely hear them, Eevee spot a berry patch ahead. The evolution pokemon excitedly ran to the bush with a watery mouth. Mirei was so pumped up about training for Matsuba that they left the Pokemon Center with a meager brunch before heading out to train. Eevee snuck in a poffin or two to himself and his teammates during training, but that poffin could only last for so long after continuously tracking down wild pokemon.

"Eevee!" Leo cried, _Oran Berries! _ He snatched a few berries from the bush and helped himself to the small blue fruit. "Eevee, vee, ee!" He happily chirped, _These are so good!_ The berries' juice dripped down his muzzle.

Once Eevee finished his snack, the normal type looked up from the berry bush and noticed that there was a small moss covered rock beside him. The rock was barely three feet tall. Compared to the other rocks in the route, this one appeared to be untouched by other pokemon and it carried an odd aura. Leo found himself attracted to it and placed his paw on the green rock. The rock gave him a tingling sensation.

Meanwhile, in another part of the same route, Mirei was still training her pokemon. She had somehow convinced Alakazam to fight a few Stantlers before the psychic pokemon went back to taking a nap. In between training with the wild pokemon, Mirei had her team practice their moves on a couple of trees nearby. The trainer herself was taking a short break and was feeding her pokemon. Pidgeotto was resting in a tree when Nidorina came running to the bird pokemon with worry.

"Nido, rina?" _Where's Leo?_ The poison type glanced around her for the small pokemon. "Nido, do, do!" _He was here a few minutes ago! _ Nidorina glared at Alakazam, "Nido?" _You see him?_

"Alakazam," _Probably wandered off again. _ The psychic type uttered, "Kazam, alakazam, zam." _Probably got distracted by flowers or berries. _

Leo enjoyed being born in a village surrounded by the forest. His home was always abundant of plants and other botanical life. The little brown dog would spend his hours playing in the field of flowers with the other pokemon. He would often come back home with flowers stuck on his fur.

"Pidgey, pid..." _Mirei is going to get mad again..._ Pidgeotto took off from its branch, "Pidgey, pidgeotto." _She's going to think he got attacked by a Growlithe or something,_ the bird pokemon cawed at the funny thought. Eevee was stronger than Mirei gave him credit for. In a way, the brunette trainer spoiled the normal type pokemon and babied him at times.

"Nidorina?" _Where are you going? _ The poison pin pokemon looked up at the tree branch where the bird pokemon was. Her red eyes blinked from the sun peaking from behind the clouds. It rained a bit at this time of the year, but that didn't mean it rained all day. It has been a few hours since they left the Pokemon Center with their trainer wearing a pink raincoat along with a white umbrella decorated with a cherry blossom pattern. It was a bit annoying having to train in the rain as it was sometimes hard to see through the pouring rain.

"Pidgey, pidgey!" The bird chuckled, _I'm going to sneak up on him!_ Pidgeotto looked like he was telling a private joke. "Pidgeo, tto!" _He'll think I'm an ordinary Pidgeotto! _ He spread out his wings to take off, leaving his teammates behind. Nidorina rolled her eyes at his idea of a joke and shook her head. Alakazam didn't appear to care.

Mirei recognized her pokemon flying off and cried, "Hey! Where's Sora going?" She checked her team and counted two pokemon. Her Eevee was nowhere to be found, "Where's Leo?"

"Nido, rina." _Looks like we have to go find him_, the poison type sighed and followed her trainer, who was running after Pidgeotto.

"Kazam," _How annoying,_ Alakazam stretched his limbs and stood up. He levitated himself in the air to follow his trainer and Nidorina.

Mirei ran down south of the grass path in search of her Eevee. Her Pidgeotto was still flying over her head; his wings were spread out and gazing down the area. The trainer noticed that after a minute or so, the bird pokemon was already slowing down and was preparing to land. Eevee didn't wander off too far, he never did. Mirei quickly ran to where she thought Pidgeotto had landed. Pidgeotto saw Leo not too far from where they were training before they noticed his disappearance. The normal pokemon was resting on a moss covered rock and looked very relaxed. The bird silently landed on the grass a few feet behind the normal type and quietly walked to Eevee. He was careful not to make a sound and avoid stepping on any twigs.

Pidgeotto was about to make his move when his trainer suddenly ran in and cried, "There you are, Leo!" Mirei startled the bird pokemon, causing him to instinctively fly up and puff his wings out in defense with a loud caw.

"Pidgey!" _Darn it!_ Pidgeotto grumbled.

"Eevee!" _Hi Mirei! _ The Eevee cried with joy and looked up at Pidgeotto, "Eevee, ee, vee!" _Hi Sora!_ The bird gave a weak caw for hello to the normal type pokemon.

"What are you doing here by yourself?" His worried trainer pets the small pokemon and said, "We still need to train for today!" Eevee and the rest of her pokemon groaned at the word 'training'.

"Nidorina, rina?" _Where were you?_ Kisaki asked Leo, who was still sitting on the moss covered rock. "Rina?" _What's this?_ The poison type poked the rock in curiosity. The rock was smooth to the touch; the moss was wet and had a fuzzy sensation. "Nido, rina, do, nido, rina?" _Don't tell me you were distracted by this?_ Leo never shown any interest in rocks before.

Eevee remained still on the odd rock, which was only small enough for tiny pokemon like him to sit on. The rock reminded him of Sacred Heart Village and the grass pokemon that lived around the forest area. It was a very comfortable place for him to rest after all that training with the pokemon. Before Leo could find the answer to Kisaki's questions, his ears perked up at the sound of leaves rustling.

Mirei noticed his reaction and asked, "Did you hear something, Leo?"

Eevee cocked his head to the side towards the source of the rustling. Mirei eyed the bush that her Eevee was staring at. Could it be a wild pokemon? The noise was too loud to be from a Growlithe. The fire dogs were good at sneaking up on their prey; it would have to be a young Growlithe or a foolish one to make so much noise. She heard a few whispers coming from the bush and wondered if it was a trainer. Why hide from her? Most trainers were eager to battle. She was about to call out to the person or pokemon behind the shrub when a huge figure suddenly jumped out and leaped towards her.

"What have you done?" The figure demanded to know. He was tall and lanky in figure with dark curly hair. He looked like he was in his mid twenties and wore a white shirt of an obscure name brand

"Who are you?" The girl was still staring at the odd man, "Are you a pokemon trainer?" Her Eevee gave the man a funny look.

"No!" The man looked offended at her assumption, "I am a man who cares about the environment!" He pointed at the message on his green t-shirt and read out it loud, "The environment is over-raided!"

"Huh?" The brunette was still confused. "Don't tell me you're a..."

"That's right!" He looked proud of himself, "I'm an environmental hipster!" The man scrutinized the trainer and asked, "Which should you use? Paper bags or plastic bags?"

Was this guy serious? Mirei couldn't believe she ran into a crazy man. This was worse than battling Matsuba, even if the gym leader was a real creep. She thought that crazy guys like him were in Hoenn... Mirei shook her head and wonder what she had gotten herself into and said, "Um, paper?"

"No!" The environmental hipster roared, "It's neither!" He took out a green woven bag with a Deerling design on it and said, "You use your own handmade bags!"

"Whatever," Mirei pouted. "Can we just battle?" Maybe the guy could be a decent battler and help her train for Matsuba.

"You want me to use my pokemon in a battle to have them become stronger than they can in the wild?" The hipster's eyes widen.

"Um, yes?" _Why did he make it sound like it was a bad thing? _ The trainer wondered in annoyance.

"Then I will teach you how to use your pokemon naturally!" The man took out his pokeball and called out, "Poochyena, go!" A small black dog like pokemon came out of its capsule. It was a little taller than a foot and bared its small fangs at Mirei.

"Poochy, poochy, ena!" _I can finally battle! _The dog like pokemon cried happily. "Poochy, poochy!" _He never lets me have fun! _ Poochyena lowered its body in a battle stance with determination in its red eyes.

"Leo, attack Poochyena with Quick Attack!" Mirei's Eevee hopped from his resting place and landed beside his trainer. The normal pokemon charged at the dark type pokemon head first, causing Poochyena to fall on its feet.

"Eevee, eevee!" _Take that! _ The normal pokemon attacked the dark type.

"Poochy!" _Hey!_ Poochyena growled, barely standing from the strong attack.

"Poochyena use Bite!" The pokemon showed its fangs to Eevee and raced to bite the evolution pokemon by the tail. Eevee ran around the grass in attempt to shake it off with Poochyena stubbornly holding onto his tail.

"Eevee, vee, ee!" _Let go of my beautiful tail!_ Leo yelled at Poochyena and hurled himself into the moss rock. Poochyena fell down face first into the moss rock with a yelp. Seeing his chance, Leo followed Mirei's orders and used Shadow Ball on Poochyena. The dark type pokemon groaned from the ghost attack and lost consciousness.

"P-poochyena!" The man fell on his knees. He quickly returned his pokemon and said, "I have one more pokemon left!" He angrily threw the pokeball at Mirei, "Deerling, use Double Kick!"

Mirei recognized the deer like pokemon from an old animated film she watched as a child. It was a small green deer with small hooves and a yellow flower on its head. The grass type pokemon galloped towards her Eevee and stomped on the normal type pokemon with its tiny hooves.

"Deer!" _Does it hurt?_ The Deerling kicked the Eevee hard on the chest. Eevee barely moved from the grass pokemon's attack.

"Ee? Eevee?" _Was I supposed to be in pain?_ Leo didn't feel anything. He was expecting the super effective attack to send him flying across the route. The Deerling must have been caught recently. "Eevee, eevee!" _Let me show you this move!_ Eevee bit the grass pokemon on the side of its belly. Deerling fainted from the attack and collapsed on the grass.

"And that's how you battle!" Mirei said proudly as the man grumbled and handed her money. Before Mirei could continue to brag about her victory, her Eevee squealed as his whole body shone bright with light.

Leo closed his eyes and felt the moss rock's power come into effect. His body grew an additional two feet and his ears and tail grew larger. When the light disappeared, Mirei saw that moss was growing out of her pokemon's ears and have turned green to resemble leaves. The newly evolved pokemon had a bigger tail that was also green and leaflike. Moss and leaves covered the pokemon; his body has turned to a yellow white color with brown paws, like the soft soil in the forest.

"A Leafeon," the man said and huffed. "You were training here earlier," he crossed his arms. "Did you notice your pokemon being unhappy?" He pointed to Mirei's Nidorina, who was spooked at the sudden attention from a stranger. The Nidorina stuttered a few words before shyly hiding behind Alakazam, ashamed to agree with the man.

"What are you talking about?" Mirei wasn't impressed with his observations. "My pokemon are perfectly happy!" She spread her arms to refer to her team, "They just want to train to battle the gym leader and win!"

"Humph!" He turned away, "Even if your pokemon wanted to train, look at the pokemon on this route!" The environmental hipster pointed at the wild pokemon moving away from their battle, "You're scaring them away because you keep looking for them to battle! Pokemon naturally battle, but you don't give them the chance to survive on their own!"

"You don't know that!" Mirei argued.

Most trainers trained their pokemon by having them fight against other trainers or against pokemon that attacked them. Actively going after pokemon that never attacked makes them more aggressive and has a lower chance of survival in the wild. Many trainers have sought to find other alternatives to train their pokemon through other methods. Those methods required more creativity and thought.

"Are you going to destroy the forest too?" The man said angrily.

"Leave me alone," she grumbled and turned to her pokemon. "We're done training today. Let's go back to the Pokemon Center." She lowered her head and started walking up north.

Her newly evolved Leafeon lowered his ears and whined, "Leaf? Eon...?" _Are you okay...? Mirei...? _The grass pokemon went over to comfort his trainer. Pidgeotto flew down and looked at Mirei with concern. Nidorina and Alakazam followed their trainer with hesitance as they headed back to the Pokemon Center.

* * *

Extra Notes:

**taller than its trainer (1) **= The anime and manga makes the pokemon look smaller than they actually are...Golbat is 5'03 and its evolution is 5'11.

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**Author Notes: ** In our original version of the story, Environmental Hipster was used mainly as a comedy element and played a very tiny role. This time...he gets some more screen time and we get to hear what he has to say. Question of the chapter: What is your favorite TM move? Review please. Until next time, see you later!

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"**MikaStoryInc": **That's right, I never lose. Not to some weak gym leader~ :D

"**LunarAbyss":** T-the pokemon...! QoQ

"**RainSonata": ***pats LunarAbyss on the back* I'm not going to say anything...


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

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**Japanese Names:**

Matsuba = Morty

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**Disclaimer:**We don't own pokemon in any shape or form. Pokemon belongs to its creators and has many fanfics written about them for entertainment and enjoyment such as this one. OCs and plot belongs to us, game characters' personalities are loosely based off of their game counterparts. Enjoy the fanfic.

* * *

"Are you okay?" Chiharu asked the next morning. She and Mirei were sitting at the Pokemon Center's cafeteria for breakfast. When Chiharu returned to the Pokemon Center last night, she found Mirei already asleep under her bed covers with her pokemon sleeping beside her.

The brunette girl mumbled a few words in response to the catcher's question. Chiharu woke up before her and had to nudge her to get out of bed. An unusual gesture as Mirei is normally the first to wake up out of the two. Mirei dragged herself to the cafeteria and was nitpicking her food on her plate, pushing her food from side to side with her plastic fork. Another odd behavior from the battler, who normally ate more at breakfast than for any other meal.

"How was training yesterday?" The bluenette was desperate to get information out of her friend. "Did you get much done?" She watched Mirei flinch at the word 'training' and turned away from her.

"A little..." Mirei said quietly.

Chiharu looked over at Mirei's pokemon, who were all out of their pokeballs. Nidorina wore a timid expression and looked at her trainer nervously as if she was to break down at any moment. Pidgeotto sat on an empty seat beside Mirei and tried to comfort the trainer with his wing on her back. Alakazam had finished his meal and was meditating in the corner of the Pokemon Center, ignoring the attention he was attracting from new trainers who have never seen the fully evolved pokemon before.

"Mirei?" Chiharu did a quick head count for Mirei and her team, but something was off. "Where's Leo?" She looked for the small normal type pokemon, who would usually be sitting at Mirei's feet eating his meal while chatting to the other pokemon.

"Leafeon!" _Here I am!_ A big yellow canine leaped at Chiharu's knees. The grass type pokemon yelped, "Leaf, leaf, eon?" _Did someone call my name?_ Leafeon shook his leafy tail excitedly at the mention of his name.

"Is that...Leo?" Chiharu was speechless. Eevee evolved yesterday?

After giving Leo a small pokeblock, the Leafeon jumped back on his fours and ran back to the pokemon. Chiharu wiped the moss Leo has left on her knees and thought, _Huh, never thought he would evolve so soon._ She always thought that Leo would evolve into an Espeon or a Vaporeon instead. The sudden appearance of the grass type made Chiharu almost knock down her plate of food beside her.

"Leo ran off yesterday," Mirei said. "We battled this trainer and Leo evolved." She cringed at the memory of the angry trainer yelling at her for her training method. Did her pokemon really hated training that much? They did seem reluctant to leave the Pokemon Center yesterday to train... _What does he know? _The girl tried to justify her actions.

"Did this trainer say something to you?" Chiharu carefully chose her words, noticing how uncomfortable the girl was, careful not to seem too curious. She knew that Mirei was still mad at her from yesterday for talking about Satsuki. She was walking on eggshells at the moment. Her Espeon walked over to her brother and looked at him curiously.

"No," she shortly replied.

"Espi, espeon?" _You evolved? _ Asahi poked her brother on the forehead with her paw. The psychic pokemon levitated a poffin from Leafeon's bowl and brought it to her mouth before saying, "Espi, esp, espeon, eon, eon." _It's going to be hard to get used to seeing you covered in moss. _Leo always took great care of his glossy fur before he evolved.

"Leafeon!" _Hey that's mine! _ Leo ran after his poffin and waved his paw towards the floating pastry. "Leaf, leaf!" _Give it back!_ Asahi was always good at sneaking in some food when he wasn't looking, but this was something else! The grass type pokemon caught his sister smiling at her newfound powers.

"Esp," _Fine,_ the Espeon said and moved the poffin above her brother's bowl. The blue pastry fell on Leafeon's head. "Espeon," _Sorry,_ the psychic pokemon chuckled.

"Leafeon..." _You're going to abuse your psychic powers, aren't you?_ The verdant pokemon rubbed his head but happily ate the dry poffin. "Leaf, leaf?" _How did you evolve?_

"I battled Matsuba yesterday," Chiharu said. She took a bite of scrambled eggs that was topped with ketchup and hash browns. The other girl instantly dropped her fork.

"You what?" She couldn't believe it.

"Asahi evolved from defeating his last pokemon," the blue haired girl said. "I had to, he has some information about Satsuki!" She looked at Mirei, "That prophecy he said yesterday...it's about Ho-Oh. He said that the-"

"You still believe in that?" She interrupted rudely. "I thought you wanted to be a pokemon professor!" Mirei snorted, "You believe in stuff like prophecies and fate?"

"It's better than having nothing to follow," Chiharu gritted her teeth. "You may think it's stupid, but I am running out of ideas. I know that you don't believe me what I said, when I know, I saw Satsuki that night. If you're not going to help me, then I'm going to investigate myself. Let me do things my way once in awhile, is that too much to ask?"

The shorter brunette was about to open her mouth to counter her friend's statement when suddenly a voice cried out, (Please stop fighting!) The two girls froze in the middle of their argument. Mirei was standing midway from her seat inches away from Chiharu, who was angrily trying to control her temper.

"Leaf?" _Was that you little sis? _The grass type cocked his head to his left, staring at his younger sibling with sharp interest.

Chiharu's eyes widened and said childishly, "Asahi?" The voice was young and feminine and echoed in her mind.

(Is there something wrong?) The little Espeon wondered to herself as she looked at each of the trainers' faces. (Why are they staring at me?) She flicked her tail innocently.

"You can talk!" Her trainer whispered. She lowered her voice to avoid attracting attention from the other people in the building. "Is that you, Asahi?" Chiharu bent over so that she was sitting at eye contact level as the sun pokemon.

"Espi?" _Is what me?_

"Eon on, leaf, leafeon..." _You're talking Asahi, like, telepathy talking..._

"Espeon!" _That's ridiculous!_

"Lea, fe le leaf?" _Hey, can you tell Mirei that she makes us train too much?_

(That's just rude! Of course she trains you too much, but I can't tell her that! Telepathy or not, idiot brother!) Asahi squeaked when she saw the brunette trainer stare at the psychic type like she had grown two heads. (Did I say that out loud?) Mirei could have sworn that the pokemon's face had turned into a light shade of pink from embarrassment.

"How can you talk?" Asahi's trainer was still talking in a low voice, struggling to keep her voice down at a whisper level. "I heard of a few cases like this, but why you?" Chiharu almost forgotten about the argument. Was this the same Eevee she picked from Glaceon's litter all those years ago?

"Leaf..." _That was really rude... _Leo stated.

"Peon!" _Shut up Leo!_ Espeon snapped, using Psychic to steal one of his uneaten poffins. The feline pokemon ignored her older brother whining and ate the poffin very zealously. The sun pokemon stuck out her tongue. Bleh... It was an orange puffin; it was a too spicy for her liking. Asahi had a preference for the green bitter poffins. The bitter, the better.

"Alakazam, kazam, zam, alakazam." _She can use telepathy because she's close to her trainer,_ Mirei's Alakazam teleported in the middle of their conversation. He was now sitting between the two eeveelutions. "Alakazam, zam, zam, alakazam." _Psychic types usually limit their thoughts to their trainers. _

"Psyduck, duck?" _All psychics can do that?_ Chiharu's Psyduck waddled by. The water type pokemon looked like a big yellow duck with a wide beak and a shocked expression.

Alakazam sighed and nodded, "Alakazam, alakazam, kazam, zam, kazam." _Yes, but most prefer to keep their thoughts to themselves._ Mirei and Chiharu's pokemon were now listening to every word he said. The psi pokemon wasn't used to such unwanted listeners.

"Golbat, bat?" _Then why can Asahi be heard?_ The bat-like pokemon asked the Alakazam, "Bat, bat, bat?" _Since when did you know about this? _

The tall psychic pokemon said, "Alakazam, ka." _When psychic pokemon have a close bond with their trainers_, "Zam, zam, zam, alakazam." _They can share their thoughts. They can understand Asahi because she wanted to be heard. _

"Pidgey, pidgey?" Mirei's Pidgeotto asked,_ So only her trainer can hear her?_

"Kazam." _Or those she is close to_, Alakazam answered the bird pokemon's question. "Alakazam, zam, alakazam." _It's easier for us psychics to connect to those we share similarity to. _

"Leafeon, eon." _You don't talk to Mirei,_ Leo stated. He glared at the psychic pokemon, "Leaf, leaf, eon!" _You could have told her that we hated training! _ He felt betrayed. The grass pokemon never knew that psychic pokemon were capable of communicating that way!

"Alakazam, zam, ka, zam." _Asahi has grown up acting as Chiharu's translator,_ he argued. "Alakazam." _Sharing her thoughts to her trainer is easier for her. _

The account of trainers being able to communicate with their psychic pokemon was rather limited. Most psychic types were aloof in nature; forming close relations to psychic pokemon is difficult for that reason. If the psychic pokemon was caught young and stayed with its trainer long enough, they may become close enough for the psychic type to choose to begin communicating. The later the psychic pokemon is obtained in its lifetime, the harder it is for it to have motivation to communicate. Sharing thoughts with a trainer ranges from sharing emotions to sharing ideas and concepts as Asahi did.

"Nidorina?" _You mean not all psychics can actually talk? _

"Zam. Alakazam, zam, kazam, alakazam." He shook his head slowly in response to Kisaki's question. _ No. Only if they are close to their trainer, and I suppose the way they are raised as well as the pokemon itself. _

"What's Kazama saying?" Mirei asked. She had never seen her Alakazam talk so much; the psi pokemon was repeating his name almost constantly in one breath. It was a rare occasion to see her and Chiharu's pokemon to pay attention to the normally asleep pokemon.

(So nothing I actually think about is private? Then I can't go around thinking about how I steal Leo's and Helios' food when they aren't lo- Oh crap) Asahi thought out loud, despite trying to keep it quiet.

"So Helios actually doesn't eat all that much...?" Chiharu stared at the feline pokemon. "Huh," The blue haired girl was feeling guilty for accusing the fire dog pokemon the other night for getting too heavy. She glanced over to the Growlithe sitting at her feet and mumbled, "Sorry Helios..."

"Growl, lithe!" _It's okay! _The Growlithe pat his trainer's knee with one paw. "Growl, ruff, ruff!" _You didn't know! _ He jumped on his hind legs to give his trainer a slobbering lick in the face.

"Nido, do, rina!" _But Mirei heard Asahi! _ The poison pin pokemon said.

"Kazam?" _Hope that she didn't realize that it was regarding her?_ The drowsy psychic type suggested. All of the brunette's pokemon snuck a glance at their trainer, who stared back. Completely confused.

"Leafeon?" _So, why is it that little sis can talk and not control it?_

"Kazam, alakazam. Alakazam, zam, zam, zam. Alakazam, kazam, kazam."_ I think it's because she was originally a normal type. She's still getting used to her new typing. I don't think she knows how to turn it off y_et. A rare smile formed on the usually sleeping pokemon. It was clear that this was amusing for him.

(Asshole...) Asahi moped. Kazama laughed out loud.

"I still can't believe you defeated Matsuba," Mirei mirrored Asahi and moped in the corner. She muttered to herself, words that was unheard by her friend's ears, "How did you beat him when I couldn't? You don't train as much as I do!"

"Would you like to come with me to the Ecruteak Dance Hall?" Her friend asked her, "I was told that the Kimono girls might know a thing or two about Ho-Oh..." She said the last few words softly. Chiharu turned to look at her friend, who was still shouting at her. She heard a few unintelligible words coming out of her mouth, but chose to ignore it.

"No, I'm going to go back to that creepy gym leader, and pummel his ass into the floor," she gritted as she returned her pokemon back besides her Pidgeotto. She left the table without saying good bye, and quickly stormed out of the building, leaving Chiharu alone and hurt.

* * *

Ecruteak Dance Hall

"So much of my money gone..." the blue haired catcher said to herself. Those tickets aren't cheap. Ecruteak City milked as much money as they could out of their tourists and had no mercy for poor high school students. After watching the one o'clock show, which featured a few kabuki stars and the kimono girls themselves, Chiharu was never so eager to stand up from her seat.

But that wasn't why she was complaining.

The moment Chiharu asked the Kimono Girls about the legendary pokemon and prophecies; they immediately challenged her to battle. Not only was she ill prepared, her own pokemon was at least five or seven levels higher than her strongest pokemon. Caring more for her pokemon's welfare and survival rate than of actually trying to talk her way out of battle, she used X item after X item. And they are not at all cheap.

"Shion, come here so I can give you this X Special Defense!" she cried out into the battlefield. Her other pokemon were stowed in their pokeballs, even her Espeon. Each had already fainted.

"Psyduck, psy?" _Another one?_ Psyduck tilted his head at his trainer, but came over anyway. "Duck, duck, psy..." _I don't think I'm good enough..._ The yellow duck looked at his opponent nervously. "Psyduck, psy!"_ I'm not strong enough!_ The water pokemon had an inferiority complex that was comparable to a certain trainer's Feebas.

"You have used so many items already, "the Kimono Girl, Tamao, noted as her Umbreon gracefully stood on her four black legs. The calm dark type simply gazed at the little yellow duck as it waddled back into the field. The kimono girl wore a colorful kimono of red and green with ornaments decorated in her hair. She had a light layer of makeup powdered on her face for the previous show.

"My pokemon are obviously much lower leveled than of yours and your sisters," Chiharu explained as she desperately tried to think up her next plan of action.

She knew how defensive an Umbreon can become. Psyduck had already used Disable on Umbreon's Faint Attack and the dark type pokemon was no longer using Confuse Ray. Umbreon was now relying on Pursuit and Quick Attack, which was both slowing down the yellow duck as well as slowly lowering his health. Poor Shion was hardly doing any damage to the dark fox like pokemon with his short range of attacks. The water pokemon would clumsily move across the theater like a fish out of water and attempt to attack it. The theater's floor was soaked with water from Shion's Surf attack from earlier. Psyduck couldn't use psychic moves on Umbreon because it was a dark type...

"Your pokemon doesn't seem to have much confidence. Is it of his trainer or of himself?" Tamao asked as her pokemon sprinted to towards Shion to use Quick Attack. The yellow water type bounced off the ground from impact.

"Shion was like that when I found him!" The trainer said, "He was lost from his group when I found him." Chiharu found him lying in the flowerbeds in the rain with a sorrowful look in his eyes.

"Of all Psyducks, why him?" The kimono girl was still examining the clumsy duck as he tripped from Umbreon's attack. "It seems you obviously know your pokemon well to be able to effectively fight with them. Without a doubt, you are definitely a trainer that does not catch the first pokemon she meets."

"I had a friend that oddly did not like Psyducks..." Chiharu chuckled slightly, recalling how Satsuki would constantly try to plug her ears whenever she passed the village lake, which was filled with Psyducks. "But she let me choose this little guy," she gave her Psyduck a fond look. "He was different from the others. He didn't run away from me when I approached him like his group did." Even though she promised the duck that she would help him find his group, she woke up the next morning with Psyduck waiting for her at her front porch.

"A pokemon chosen by a friend? But why did you keep him with you if he obviously has confidence issues?"

"Satsuki must have seen something different in this particular Psyduck. And no matter how I tried to get him back to his fellow Psyducks, he would just follow me home. Besides," she paused. "Shion is a sweet pokemon. He always tries to help me around my home. He's the most caring pokemon I've ever had. It wouldn't be right not to have him around."

She finished with a smile as the duck like pokemon charged at the dark type with Surf. Psyduck would often waddle behind her back home, often trying to offer help, only to trip on himself. This gave her grandfather an excuse to take a bunch of pictures of it and show off to the villagers, who have to suffer through listening to the same tale on repeats.

"Umbreon, stop." Tamao held her arm forward to halt the attacking moonlight pokemon. "I believe that one more attack would cause the pokemon to faint, but we already found proof of what we are looking for."

"Eh?" Chiharu asked, startled by the sudden conclusion. "Wait, why?" She was clearly going to lose the match. "Shion, are you alright?" The catcher squatted down to Psyduck's level. The poor duck had scratches on his body and looked like he was ready to fall down. Her opponent was right; one more attack would have made him faint.

"Psy, duck!" _I couldn't defeat Umbreon for you!_ Psyduck said sadly.

"If I defeat your Psyduck, you would blackout and we would be unable to speak with you for at least several hours." The Kimono Girl stated with a matter-of-fact tone.

"Blackout? What are you talking about?" Chiharu blinked, unsure of what the Kimono Girl was trying to say.

Tamao sighed, her head tilted downwards slightly. "They always deny it." Seeing confusion on the girl's face, she shook her head and proceeds to the next topic, "So you wanted to know about Ho-Oh? I'm guessing Matsuba told you?" Chiharu showed her the Fog Badge she had obtained from Matsuba.

"Do a lot of trainers ask you about this?" The tired trainer asked.

The Kimono Girl shook her head, "No, I believe most trainers don't even believe in Ho-Oh's existence. We often check those who ask just in case." She then said, "Matsuba's predictions tend to be correct. He told you about the prophecy, right?"

"Yes," Chiharu slowly replied. "He said that a trainer met Ho-Oh five years ago after he challenged the five of you." She gazed at the Kimono Girls, who were all difficult opponents in their own different ways.

"A trainer came here five years ago," another Kimono Girl, Sakura, said. "He battled us when we saw that he had the Clear Bell with him. He also had the Rainbow Wing under his possession."

"By the way, what do you mean by 'check'?" Chiharu asked.

"We wanted to make sure you were not after the legendary pokemon for ill purposes. But there is no need to fear. You are clearly a kind and thoughtful trainer. Your pokemon must love you." Tamao explained.

"After we battle that trainer," Sakura continued. "The whole city shook. It wasn't an earthquake. We were alerted that Ho-Oh has returned. We quickly went to the Bell Tower to see that the rainbow hued pokemon was indeed coming back."

"We performed a dancing ritual we have been practicing for years," Tamao added. "Ho-Oh then flew and landed on top of the Bell Tower. It was waiting for that trainer who defeated us." The rainbow pokemon spread its huge wings with a fierce look in its eyes. It didn't take notice of the Kimono Girls, who were there as witnesses. Its only focus was on the young trainer in front of it.

"What did Ho-Oh do?" Chiharu whispered. She felt like she was five again and was asking her grandfather to tell her more of what happened to the characters from his old tales. She leaned over to catch every word.

"They battled for a long period of time," Tamao said. "I thought the fire attacks would attract the media, but it seems that the quality of the evidence was all but a blur. It lasted for an hour before Ho-Oh was finally caught."

"Someone caught Ho-Oh?" She said.

"Ho-Oh was under the trainer's possession for some time," Kimono Girl Komomo added. "Sometime after, the trainer came back a few months later and told us that Ho-Oh was released. The trainer felt that there was too much responsibility to have a legendary pokemon under his ownership. It was best for Ho-Oh to live in peace in the wild than avoiding public attention as a trainer' pokemon."

"Matsuba said that I and a friend of mine were in that prophecy about Ho-Oh," the blue haired trainer said. "What does that mean?"

"After traveling around, my sisters have noticed a number of legendary pokemon disappearing," The Kimono Girl Koume said. "There may be some sort of connection between you and the legendaries. How, we are not quite sure.

"We were told by Matsuba that someone is after Ho-Oh, but he doesn't know who," Kimono Girl Sakura finished her sister's sentence. "He told us that he saw six trainers looking up at the legendary, one other trainer reaching for it, and another in the shadows. He could not tell what that final shadowed trainer was doing."

"What about my missing friend?"

"Did Matsuba ever mention how many friends of yours were involved in this prophecy?" Chiharu went silent when Kimono Girl Koume asked her that. "You can try to work alone all you want, but those around you will always be affected by your actions in some way."

"Also, have faith in your friend." Kimono Girl Satsuki added her voice soft and sure. "She will soon fall, and when she does, she will need you to recover. Things may not be good now, but it will only get better."

Chiharu swallowed hard and nodded at the Flareon's trainer. "What can I do then?" Where was she to go? Mirei wanted to collect all the badges, but asides from that she had no idea where to search for Satsuki next. They have been searching for years with little to no evidence for their next destination.

"That girl you are looking for... Is much closer than you think she is," Kimono Girl Sakura said with a sad tone. "Watch out for the people around you. They are not always who they seem to be. Some cannot be believed at first sight."

"There is a tower beyond the mountains," Kimono Girl Komomo said. "There is some disturbance in its aura. The tower is where the land, sea, and sky meet. It is located at a port of crashing waves."

_A port of crashing waves... _Chiharu thought. Where has she heard that before? There were two port cities in Johto: Olivine City and Cianwood City. Beyond the mountains? Olivine had some mountains, but they have been set aside for that Pokemon Tower decades ago. The only thing you saw there were tourists and trainers eagerly waiting for challenging battles. The Kimono Girl mentioned a tower, but something told Chiharu that the Pokemon Tower wasn't what she meant. Cianwood had the Safari Zone after going through several caves and wildlife. Did she mean...?

"Cianwood City?" The girl asked. "What tower?"

"That's for you to find out, because we don't have a clue!" Kimono Girl Satsuki teased, though her words were true. "Even prophecies won't tell you everything!" She said loudly, "The future isn't all set in stone. Only you can shape your own fate!"

When Chiharu left the theater, she checked her blue Pokegear and saw its digital numbers reading four o'clock in the afternoon.

"That was a rough battle," Chiharu said and turned to her Psyduck, who was struggling to keep up with her. "I'm sorry Shion, it was stupid of me to have you fight them." She thought of her team who had to put up with the harsh battle. The blue haired trainer was grateful for Kimono Girl Tamao to halt the battle.

"Psy...duck." _No...it's my fault._ Shion denied his trainer taking the guilt. "Psy, duck, psy, yai." _I just wasn't good enough._ He looked down with a sad expression.

His trainer saw his lack of confidence and said, "No, you did fine. I'm surprised we lasted so long against them!" She pats the duck on the head, "We didn't know they were going to be so strong!"

Once Psyduck and the other pokemon were healed at the Pokemon Center, Psyduck was back in Mirei and Chiharu's room and stared at the ceiling. His trainer was going out to get more food for them. Her pokemon had a tiring day because of the match and she felt that all of them needed some peace to eat and rest. After that battle with Umbreon, the yellow duck felt strange. Like he was going through an enlightenment of some sort. Like his body was warning him that something was about to change. He felt stronger than usual and his light headache has not bothered him lately.

"Psy...duck?" _I'm...going to evolve?_ Shion looked at its small claws with uncertainty.

* * *

Pokemon Center

Chiharu came back with more food for the pokemon and placed it on the floor. Many of her pokemon automatically came at the sight of food and started consuming it in no time. The catcher stood by the bed with a smile on her face when Mirei stomped into the room with a wide, triumphant smile chiseled into her face. Chiharu perked up to see her friend stride over and flop onto the bed.

"I suppose you won?" The blue haired catcher asked cautiously.

"Of course I did! I knocked his pokemon into Sinnoh!" She giggled gleefully. All the doubts that she had after the first battle and with the Environmental Hipster had slipped out of her mind.

"Did... Did you learn anything...?" Chiharu was still carefully choosing her words, afraid of tripping a berserk button from the enthusiastic battler.

"Yep! His victory was just a fluke. All I needed was a day of training to warm up, and the chance of him winning was zero! ZERO, HAHAHA!"

Her friend simply stared, wondering if she lost her mind. She then shook her head, understanding that Mirei didn't learn anything. Who was that trainer yesterday that made Mirei cringe at the word 'training'? Chiharu had the impression that Mirei would mope to the gym unmotivated because of yesterday until she found out about Chiharu's victory against Matsuba. Whatever the trainer did, it seemed to have little to no effect on her.

"Leafeon, leaf!" _She didn't use me in battle! _ Leo pouted as he took a bite of his dinner. "Leafeon, eon!" _She used Sora instead!_

"Nidorina?" _How was your day?_ Kisaki asked Asahi, who was quietly resting on a cushion laid on the floor.

(It was tiring,) she said with wariness. (Those Kimono Girls were no cake walk.)

"Cake?" Chiharu looked up from where she was resting. The dinner she ate felt like heaven after that long pokemon battle. Cake sounded good right now; the girl drooled at the thought of having a strawberry cheesecake.

(...Never mind.) The Espeon sighed at the timing of her telepathy.

Espeon had already sprouted random thoughts today during her battle with one of the Kimono Girls. Chiharu gave the psychic pokemon odd looks while one of the Kimono Girls chuckled at Asahi's statement. The sun pokemon groaned at the thought that everyone could hear her thoughts if she wasn't careful. She was still having trouble learning to control her psychic powers and has been practicing by stealing Leo's food, much to the grass pokemon's discontent.

"Let's go to Olivine!" Mirei suddenly leaped out of bed.

"Now?" The catcher asked, looking at her Pokegear. It was already five thirty... She wasn't looking forward to traveling at night, where the pokemon were always more aggressive. It was also hard to see in the dark and trainers enjoyed sneaking up on each other for night battles.

"I'm pumped! It's alright if we travel tonight, we won't be running into Spinaraks on these route. I feel like I can take on the world!"

"Alakazam..." _Beating that gym leader was probably a bad idea for her... _The psychic type shook his head.

"We should go to Cianwood," Chiharu said to Mirei. "I hear it's easier to defeat the gym leader with Sora, Kazama, and Leo. They could use some more training before taking on Olivine's gym leader!" She pumped her arms in the air in false enthusiasm. The catcher mentally begged for her friend to fall for the bait. _Wait for it...! _She thought.

"We'll go there, after Olivine! It'll only be a day later, and my pokemon are ready for whatever the gym leaders have to throw at them!"

"You're that confident, huh?"

"Let's head out to route 38 after dinner!" Mirei cheered. Chiharu could only respond with a groan. She was impossible to convince once her mind was set to it. Mirei's Alakazam seemed to be thinking among the same lines and sighed in unison with the blue haired girl.

* * *

Ecruteak City Gym

Matsuba rubbed his temple with an annoyed expression on his face.

"I can't believe it." He mumbled to himself. "She beat me, using pure blunt force. She didn't learn anything at all!"

She had her Pidgeotto use Gust a few times to take down his first few pokemon before switching out with her Nidorina to make Gengar faint with Bite. The match was finished fairly quickly with little to no resistance from his pokemon. The gym leader was at the front of the gym's interior. He was about to close the gym for the day and get dinner for his pokemon.

The soft clicking of boots entered the room, quietly making its way towards the battle stage. Matsuba spun around, completely taken by surprise by the trainer's lack of presence.

"Ah, hello! Did you defeat all my junior trainers already..?" He asked the trainer. His challenger dressed in black and dark shades of grey, an odd combination for this time of the year. The sun was out and ready to burn and bake anyone who wasn't prepared for it.

The stranger didn't reply. He looked a bit awkward in clothing that was quite loose, though nowadays, it's a style. _He is probably feeling a bit nervous or shy_, the gym leader thought.

"Wait right here, let me go fetch the referee before we begin, okay?" He smiled as he turned his back to go into the break room.

Suddenly, a pain pulsed through his head, everything before him looked like it was in grayscale. He saw himself, down on the ground with a massive burn covering from the right side of his back, to his shoulders and chest area. The blond man cringed at the pain. The burn cut through his thin skin, impatient and demanding. A shadowed trainer stood next to a large fire pokemon who was blurred, but still recognizable. A pokemon that shouldn't be in the hands of a trainer. The legendary volcano pokemon.

Matsuba snapped his body around to see a red flash release the magnificent beast. One eye saw reality, and the other was still portraying the prophecy as the trainer's mouth move silently. The adrenaline already spiked in his own body, making everything move slowly than it really was.

"Fire Blast," the gym leader read the quiet trainer's lips as the room heated up and suddenly grew extremely bright. The sudden flame made the gym leader cough from the lack of oxygen in his system. The ghost trainer was still mouthing the last bits of the prophecy before he lost consciousness and plunged into darkness.

* * *

Ecruteak City Border from Route 37

"Here's Ecruteak!" Keigo announced later that night when Red and Green arrived to the historical city. They were standing at the city's entrance where the arc wrote, 'Ecruteak City - the historical city'. Lights were gleaming from the traditional roofed buildings. "I thought we would never make it because of you being a bunch of old men!"

"Why you..." Green gritted his teeth. After chasing that Gengar in the forest for hours, they have finally retrieved Red's Pikachu. The reunion between pokemon and trainer would have been heartwarming, if it wasn't for the fact that they were delaying their arrival to Ecruteak City.

"What can I say?" The young teenage boy said, "It's not my fault you guys are so-"

Keigo was interrupted midway his sentence when someone's Pokegear rang in the tune of some television show. The gym leader automatically took out the green Pokegear from his bag and answered, "Hello?"

"The Ecruteak gym leader!" A man said frantically, "Matsuba! He's been found badly burned by an attacker!"

"What?" Green froze. It couldn't be. "Who are you?" The gym leader demanded to know. The call was from Matsuba's Pokegear, but he didn't recognize the voice.

"This is Matsuba's referee!" The man shouted. "The burns reached his shoulder and continued onto his back and chest. He's in the Ecruteak Hospital right now. Here's the address with the room number where he's resting!"

Green took out a piece and paper and pen to write down the information. It took the Viridian gym leader a few minutes to calm down the anxious referee to hear his words correctly. The phone call ended with the referee apologizing to the two Kanto trainers for wasting their time before hanging up.

"Whoa..."Keigo finally said, after hearing all of that. "Shit just got real... A gym leader was attacked?" He turned to the other two. "Doesn't that mean that the attacker is still here? Would he target you two?" His voice was shaking from worry. Keigo's Flareon looked up to his trainer and tried to comfort the teen by nudging him with its forehead. He remembered how his sister was rushed to the hospital that one night, covered in cuts, bruises and burns.

"He probably is, but there is no way Red and I are going down without a fight," Green answered with determined eyes. He put a firm hand on the teenager's shoulders and said, "Go rest up in the Pokemon Center tonight and go home first thing in the morning. Red and I will handle this."

"I can't go home!" The teen cried, "I need to go to Goldenrod City (1) for class tomorrow!"

"...that sounds troublesome," Red groaned. It has been years since he went to school. While he was in Mt. Silver, Blue and Green would bring books with them to try to help him catch up in his academics. He wasn't so bad in reading, it's just that learning history and math never had much importance to him.

"Here kid," Green said, pulling out some money and handing it to the teen. "The train (2) should still be running right now. Take the one for Goldenrod City and rest at their Pokemon Center."

Keigo stared at the paper money in Green's hands. They just met yesterday. Was this gym leader really going to give him money? Keigo shook his head and said, "It's okay. I already have money." His Flareon nodded and cried its name.

"Then as thanks, and if you must pay me back, then do it after I find out what happened to your friend." He smirked, putting a smile on the kid's face.

"Hey, if you meet my sister, tell her that her stupid Gengar ran away from home again!" The teenage boy stuck out his tongue. Green fought the urge to roll his eyes at the childish behavior.

"Maybe not," he called out as Keigo rushed towards the train station that was located at the lower left side of the city near the pokemon gym. He turned to the Kanto champion and said, "We should head to the hospital right now."

"Right," Red said with Pikachu by his side.

* * *

Ecruteak Hospital

"I didn't expect it at all," the Ecruteak gym leader stated when they came in.

After staying in the hospital's waiting room for nearly an hour, a nurse finally called Red and Green in and led them to Matsuba's room. The room was white and had curtains at the window to hide the beautiful night scenery of the city. The usual curtain that was used to separate the two sides of the room was gone with only one inhabitant in his bed with bandages wrapped over his back and shoulders. According to the nurse, he had just woken up when they came in.

"What happened?" Red asked the ghost trainer.

"I was leaving the gym for the day when this trainer appeared," Matsuba said. "He was dressed like a punk, all black. I thought he was there for a gym battle, so I turned my back to go get my referee and then..."

The gym leader groaned slightly as he got a little too worked up and tried to get up. He hissed a breath, trying to keep it all in. He said, "Sorry, I refused a good portion of the pain meds they wanted me to have. I can't talk to anyone if I'm drugged up though..."

Red and Green glanced at each other. A punk trainer? The ghost trainer paused at the last line with a look of uncertainty in his eyes. His eyes froze and Matsuba mumbled a few words to himself with the two Kanto trainers waiting patiently for him to finish his statement. Although the ghost gym leader was now under bandages and medicine, he had a sleepy expression and didn't seem to be fully aware of his surrounding, despite declining a fairly large portion. Any more, then his mind would surely have been in space doing who knows what. His focus was all over the place. From anxiety or from the medicine?

"He attacked me with a pokemon," he continued. "But that pokemon...it shouldn't be under control of any trainer." Matsuba placed a hand on his forehead.

"Which pokemon was it?" Green asked quietly, eying the security camera placed unsubtle at the corner of the ceiling. He noticed that Matsuba had said all of this in a low tone as he provided them information about his thief. Was Matsuba talking like that out of nervousness or out of awareness that they were on camera? The recorder didn't record conversations, but they could see every action of the patient. It made the Viridian gym leader anxious.

"Do you remember?" Red asked when Matsuba's pause was a little longer than it should have been.

"Entei," he mouthed the legendary pokemon's name.

"Wait, wha-" Green began when a nurse walked into the room.

"Matsuba, sir, I know that you don't want any more medication, but if we don't have you relaxed or remotely trying to recover, I am going to have to sedate you," she said in a sweet, terrible voice. She turned her gaze to the other two trainers and said, "I'm afraid that you have to leave now. Visitor's hours are over."

"But-!" Red tried to continue when suddenly the nurse loomed over them.

The happy expression on her face poorly masked the malicious aura that she only barely suppressed. Without another word, the two waved good bye to the injured gym leader and fled the scene.

* * *

Extra Notes:

**Goldenrod City (1) **= Sacred Heart Village doesn't have any schools that are officially acknowledged by the government. All village children are required to attend schools outside of the village, so the villagers aren't totally isolated. They normally commute to schools from cities around them like Violet City. When a villager fills out official information, they often list themselves as Goldenrod citizens due to the city's large population and that Sacred Heart children are commonly born in Goldenrod City's hospital. It is common for villagers to share an address of a relative who lives in Johto for official papers. Sacred Heart villagers usually commute to their jobs in big cities like Goldenrod and Ecruteak.

**train (2)** = Okay, so the games don't have trains, but Johto has to have some form of transportation like most places do in real life, especially for students who have to commute to school from different cities. The regions in the story have buses, trains, subway trains, the Magnet Train, cars, bikes, etc.

* * *

**Author Notes:** Shion finally makes his cameo! Our original story had a scene of Mirei refighting Matsuba, but I'm sure reading the same pokemon battle three times would be tiring. Question of the chapter: What is your favorite Eeveelution and why? Leave a comment and review in the box below. Until next time, see you later!

* * *

"**RainSonata":** Psyduck is so cute! He has three strands of hair! ^^;

"**LunarAbyss": **… I'll be honest, even when I played Pokemon Blue as a child, I really did not like Psyducks. Dunno why though.

"**MikaStoryInc": **I should pack some quackers for tomorrow since I have class.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

* * *

**Japanese Name:**

Professor Utsugi - Professor Elm

Natsume - Sabrina

* * *

**Disclaimer:** We do not own pokemon. Pokemon belongs to Game Freak, Nintendo, and Satoshi Tajiri. OCs and plot belongs to us. Game characters' personalities are loosely based off of their game counterparts. Enjoy the fanfic.

* * *

New Bark Town

Silver was sitting in Professor Utsugi's lab with a stack of papers lying on his desk. He appeared to be in his mid teens and wore a black shirt and pants underneath his lab coat. It was too hot to be wearing a jacket in this weather. The redhead boy groaned. What was it with adults and their paperwork? The professor had discovered a new method of hatching eggs again and he had asked Silver and another lab assistant to go over his research paper again. The professor was going to a conference in Unova in a few months and he needed to polish his English again for his lecture.

"Um, Silver?" A blue haired girl said over the stack of papers. Her hair was tied into pigtails. She wore a pink shirt and a skirt underneath the lab coat she was wearing.

"What's up, Crystal?" he answered, not looking up from decently sized packet in his hand.

"Gold called me all morning to say that he was coming over," Crystal said and showed her teal colored Pokegear to the redhead for evidence. There was a list of phone calls and all of them read 'Gold' in katakana (1).

"When he gets here, ignore that fool."

"Pst, Silver!" a raven haired teenager peeked from the nearest window. _Speak of the devil..._ Silver thought as he kept his back to the voice and continued to sort the mountains of paperwork.

"Silver..." he continued to quietly call out, not knowing that he is purposely being ignored. Crystal smothered a snicker that threatened to arise. "Hey, can you hear me?"

"Stop being mean to him," she whispered as she dropped a project folder into its corresponding box. "You know that if it wasn't for him, you would be in there twenty-four seven."

"I'm here because I was a fool," the teenage boy said in a flat voice.

His pokeball on his belt shook in disagreement to its trainer. Silver looked up to gaze at the glass case placed casually underneath a huge pile of books in the back of the lab. The case was carefully locked with several keys and contained a held item that was brought over by that Sinnoh professor a month ago. He recalled the older professor talking in a harsh voice of more security and caution of protecting the item. Why, he never found out.

The blue haired girl looked sad. "You brought back the pokemon to the professor, but even he could see that your pokemon has learned to like you." It wasn't necessary for Silver to work for Professor Utsugi out of debt. Even the professor said so. Silver however, was stubborn and insisted that he would work to repay for his crimes and to remake his identity. If not, he would work for rent as he was living with Professor Utsugi and his family, who lived above the pokemon lab.

"Is the pokemon still with you?" Silver ignored her statement and took out a highlighter to correct the professor's grammatical mistake. It was sometimes hard to understand what the pokemon professor was trying to say. His use of jargon was overdone and his writing was messy and hard to comprehend.

"He came back," she said. "It looks like something is going to happen again." Before Silver could ask the blue haired girl what she meant, he heard a tap at the window. Silver groaned. It would only be one person...

"Silvy, pst Silyy!" The trainer outside started using odd pet names that he forced upon his friend. He wore a red hooded jacket with black knee length pants. "Silv, Silvy Silv Silv!"

A vein pulsed in Silver's head as he continued to correct and file the papers before him. The raven haired teen silently fumed, puffs of smoke were almost visible as they erupted from his head and ears. His eyes perked up and his grin stretched from ear to ear as an idea struck him.

"Oh Shirogane~" he cooed (2). Silver snapped around, his eyes on fire.

"DO NOT CALL ME THAT, YOU IDIOT!"

The usually calm trainer roared at the sound of his birth name. Professor Utsugi's son looked at the redhead curiously when he saw the angry redhead lose his temper. He stormed out of the building to give the teenager a good punch, only to have Gold pin both his wrists with his own hands.

"Yay, you finally came out!" He smiled brightly as his friend's anger was about to cause a lightning storm.

"That's real mature of you, _Hibiki_." Silver said sourly. The raven haired teen's smile dropped as the two glared at each other with infinite rivalry when Silver spat out Gold's real name.

"That's not my name," the gold eyed trainer mumbled. He readjusted his black baseball cap that was worn backwards with his black hair underneath it. The cap had yellow stripes on it to resemble an Ultra Ball.

"You were born with that name. Your mom chose it." His former rival shot back.

"Well, your dad named you after a stupid mountain," Gold glared back at the other trainer.

"Don't talk about my father!" The black clad redhead burst a vein. "And you renamed yourself after a Super Sentai ranger. Like that is any better."

"Your name sounds like something coming out of a video game," Gold rolled his eyes with his Typhlosion laughing. The fire pokemon was a large man sized mammal with dark green fur and a yellow underbelly. Typhlosion had fangs and had fire coming out of its upper back like a volcano.

"Can you two knock it off?" Crystal came out to find the two idiots arguing like children. The lab assistant went over to separate the two teenage boys. "I'm wondering how you two are supposed to the strongest trainers in this region." The blue haired lab assistant sighed, "You two can be such a disappointment."

"No one asked you Crystal," Gold muttered as he continued to glare his rival down.

"Let go of my wrists," Silver demanded with a somewhat calm tone, his eyes failing to smother his anger.

"Don't wanna," he stuck out a tongue. The next thing he knew, he was flipped into the air as his grip on his friend tightened. The redhead slammed him into the ground, using his own body to keep him down, as Gold hissed out a breath. But that breath wasn't from pain.

"Man, that was hot..." the raven haired champion said with a straight face, earning him a fist to his cheek. "OW!"

"Sometimes I can't tell if you're just fucking with me or if you were dropped on the head too many times," the silver eyed trainer said as he stood up, massaging his wrists.

"Gold, sometimes I wonder if you have a death wish," Crystal sighed as the Johto trainer moped in a corner, his injured cheek flaming bright red.

* * *

A steam punk looking trainer watched a group of trainers interact in an odd and immature manner as she quietly stalked towards the white building. _They seem to be having fun_, she thought. She shook her head and went back to her main goal. _ The item should be in the building._ It seemed amateurish to store a sacred item in a small lab where it could easily be stolen overnight.

"Eevee... Eve ee." _Satsuki... I'm hungry._ A small brown fox like pokemon whined behind her. The rest of her pokemon were in their pokeballs beside Ralts, who was staying close to her trainer. The psychic pokemon expressed discomfort to her trainer, who was more focused on the lab at the moment.

Satsuki shushed the normal type pokemon and crawled to the white building from the back. From a distance, she saw that the man's family was upstairs. She saw his wife cooking something near the window with his son sitting down to do his homework. The child looked like he was around Satsuki's age when she left the village. When the teenage girl took a quick glance at the lab through the bottom window, she saw that the professor was nowhere to be seen. Bathroom break? Lunch break at the restaurant nearby? Unwittingly, she leaned back on the heels of her left foot as she tried to get a better view through the window, causing a twig to snap.

"Who's there?" One of the voices from earlier snapped. She watched the redhead spin around to face her general direction. The teenage boy watched her movements, but focused on her eyes. He knew that look. How could he not?

"Vee..." _That doesn't sound good..._

She looked around using the corners of her eyes, trying to find the nearest escape route, and her heart nearly stopped. A blue haired girl whipped her head to her direction too.

"You're a thief," The girl said. Her Jolteon stood beside his trainer with his spiny body posed towards the newcomer. Silver wore that same expression five years ago when he snuck into the same lab to steal a pokemon while the professor was absorbed in his work. By the time the professor figured it out, the redhead trainer was long gone, on his way to Cherrygrove City.

Satsuki clenched her teeth as she silently recalled her two pokemon. She walked sideways out of the bush, keeping her legs bent and her movement minimal. Her hazel eyes narrowed as she calmly accessed her situation.

"What are you here for?" Silver sneered, a pokeball already in his hand. Gold finally noticed the punkish trainer, and pulled himself next to his rival. Without saying a single word, the red head's pokeball opened to reveal an Alakazam. The pokemon cried its name before calmly staring at the other trainer.

The punk trainer waited for the redhead to shout out a command, keeping an eye on his lips if he was to whisper. Her Eevee came out of his pokeball and stepped in front of his trainer in attempt to defend her. Eevee held his head up high and growled at the psychic pokemon in front of him.

"Elliot, what are you doing?" She scolded quietly, trying to deepen her voice and failing. Silver's brows narrowed as he noticed that the thief's voice is not as low as it should be for a teenage boy of her size. Not a single word was uttered when Silver suddenly nodded his head once with Alakazam crossing his spoons and used Psychic on the evolution pokemon.

_Shit!_ Satsuki mentally swore as she grabbed her normal type and threw out her own pokeball. A large brown dog like pokemon emerged with his head facing her opponents. Without flinching, it took on the psychic attack with its own roar.

"What the- He has Entei!" Gold's mouth dropped. He turned to his friends and asked, "Do you think this is the collector Blue warned us about?"

Silver's Alakazam sharpened its mind and narrowed its eyes as it sat briefly in meditation. Calm Mind. Its trainer still hasn't said much since the battle began. _How did he...? _Satsuki asked herself. Most trainers shouted out their attacks for their pokemon to follow, yet this one didn't? He wasn't even moving his lips so she couldn't read his commands. The other two trainers had their hands on their pokeballs; ready to step in if worse was to come.

She did hear of one case, Natsume. She and her pokemon can communicate through the same wave length, a form of psychic communication that was almost as rare as Telepathy itself. It was only possible to achieve by forming a very close bond with a psychic pokemon, a hard feat to do as many psychic pokemon are found when they are older. Many trainers who achieved the ability to share the same wave length were thought to be psychics themselves. Non-psychic trainers being able to do the same were rarer.

One of Crystal's pokeball shook and wobbled. A flash of red shone out of the blue haired girl's lab coat with its inhabitant landing gracefully in front of the volcano pokemon. The legendary water pokemon tossed its violent mane with a majestic bellow of its name.

_So, you were already caught, brother._ The fire legendary faced its counterpart. His icon clad hooves left heavy footprint marks on the sandy pavement of the small town.

_I only allowed myself to be re-caught, if I may be specific._ Suicune growled. It gave Entei a glare; _Do you understand what you have gotten yourself into? _ The aurora pokemon said all of this in a quiet voice, never taking its eyes off of the other legendary pokemon.

"Entei, the Alakazam and his trainer can Mind Sync, we need to leave, NOW." The steam punk called out. The fire type reluctantly backed up slowly and away from their previous target. She leaped onto his back, the Eevee in her arms, when the legendary pokemon leaped into the forest.

"Hey!" Gold called out. "Where the hell do you think you are going?"

_What do you mean by Mind Sync? I believe that we can still get what you needed! _

"There was no way we can battle without having to call on other pokemon," Satsuki explained as the three screamed at her to stop. "If he has that bond with his pokemon, there is no doubt that the pokemon was as strong as you. And that girl had Suicune too. I'm not going to gamble, and the third trainer hadn't even called out his pokemon ye- LOOK OUT!"

The fire dog skid to a stop behind a tree in time to avoid a shot of ice coming their way. Suicune used Ice Beam to freeze a path and slid on the slippery surface to gain speed. The aurora pokemon's attack froze several yards of grass and made a few Pidgeys fight out of the grass in surprise. A few Sentrets and Rattatas had wild look in their eyes and went silent from their argument when they saw the legendary pokemon pass by with the wind. The two legendary pokemon sprints pass New Bark Town's border and continued the chase in a new route.

"Stop in the name of the Johto Champion!" The raven haired teen shouted out, riding his Togekiss. The big white bird had a red and blue speckled body with cloud like wings. "Togetaro, Aura Sphere!" Blue aura concentrated in front of the happiness pokemon and aimed it at the volcano pokemon. Entei skillfully evaded the attack and flew off course of the usual path in route 29.

"Why did you announce that we were following him too?" Silver snapped, flying with his Crobat not too far behind his rival.

The bat pokemon was slightly taller than Golbat and was purple with wide blue wings and short legs. The redhead had to hold onto Crobat's feet due to the bat being too round for him to ride on its back. His Crobat crossed its wings and hurled Cross Poison at Entei, who took some damage from the poisonous attack. The fire pokemon barely took damage.

"Happiness pokemon? Of all pokemon, two happiness pokemon and a legendary?" The steam punk trainer mumbled to herself. Her Eevee was wrapped in her short sleeved hoodie jacket; one hand holding the jacket together and the other gripping the fire dog's fur. "Argh, Entei, WE ARE NOT FIGHTING THEM!"

_We are running again?_ The fire type snorted in annoyance. Despite his attitude, the pokemon increased its speed as it dashed like a Rattata in its tunnel.

_What could you be doing with him?_ Suicune was right behind them. The water type legendary pranced with ease with the help of the wind. Its white tails flew as the aurora pokemon summons a tidal wave rushing towards Entei.

"Rain Dance," Crystal said. The blue leopard like pokemon pranced in zigzags with grace. It cried into the howling wind and briefly touched the dry ground with its blue snout. The once clear sky started to form dark stormy clouds with rain pouring down the trainers and the thief.

"Swoop down and use Fly!" Gold shouted over the pouring rain. His Togekiss flew down low to attack the fire legendary pokemon.

"Entei, leap to your right!"

_Into Suicune?_ It asked, its voice riddled with confusion. The rain was beginning to soak into his mane and made it look like an angry cat that was forced to take a shower. Entei shook itself slightly to get the water out of his coat.

"Just do it!" Satsuki leaned to that direction. The legendary pounced on its brother, who in turn, slid to a stop as the happiness pokemon pulled up from a nose dive towards a tree.

The raven haired trainer aimed to grab the thief's wrist, but grabbed hold of a dew shaped necklace wrapped around the stranger's arm instead. His odd colored eyes widened. "What's this?" He asked in a low tone.

Panicked, Satsuki immediately yanked the gem out of his hand, nearly falling off her pokemon. She caught a glimpse of gold reflecting the dimmed sunset when she looked her opponent in the eyes as she hissed, the chain of the necklace slicing into her skin from the pull.

The feeling pokemon in her pokeball sensed her trainer's discomfort as she broke out of her capsule and clung to her from the hood of her jacket. _Are you alright?_ She asked in a frantic voice.

"Hinata, Teleport." She gritted her teeth from the burn of the friction. The chains began to draw blood as the doll like pokemon's red horns glowed white in the heavy rain. With a flash, the black clad trainer and the pokemon with her disappeared.

* * *

Professor Utsugi's House

"We lost him!" Silver growled. "Damnit!" He pounded his fist against the table. They came back to the lab to warn the professor that someone had tried to steal something. The young professor automatically panicked at the bad news and ran around the lab like a lost pokemon. Professor Utsugi's wife had made lunch for the Johto trio earlier; she was now cleaning up the kitchen and putting away the washed plates from the sink.

"We need to move that item immediately," Crystal said. "I'm sure the thief will try to come here again to get it."

"What was he trying to steal?" Gold asked, not understanding why the thief was there in the first place.

"That item in there," Professor Utsugi came in the middle of the conversation. "Is the Azure Flute delivered here personally by a pokemon professor in Sinnoh with his lab assistant." The professor appeared to be in his early or mid thirties and had brown hair. He wore a blue polo shirt and pants and had glasses. He was currently out of the lab, so he wasn't wearing his lab coat.

"The Azure Flute?" Gold gave the young professor a questioning look.

"It's a flute that is made out of an unknown material," Professor Utsugi explained while cleaning his glasses. "It's blue and it was found in Sinnoh a few years ago. It is believed that the flute may not be from this world."

"We need to call Red," the golden eyed trainer said. "By the way, did you notice what was wrapped around his wrist?" He asked, still pondering on the dew shaped necklace he saw the thief have.

"It looked like a Mystic Water, though it should be on a water pokemon, not his wrist," Crystal answered as she repacked the flute into a new and less conspicuous box.

"Where are you going?" The redhead asked the girl, who was also packing a few travel items into her backpack.

"I need to go find him," the blue haired lab assistant said. "He's from Celadon."

She thought of Suicune, who was now in its pokeball. The aurora pokemon came to her a few days ago when she was returning from work. Suicune's sudden appearance surprised her where it nudged her to let it be re-caught again. The water pokemon shared its emotions with its trainer of worry, distress, fear? It was hard for her to understand the cause of these swirls of emotions. Perhaps that man could tell her what was wrong with Suicune.

"Mystic Water?" the Johto champion murmured to himself, detached from the situation at hand. He shook his head, thinking, _There are plenty of trainers who has that item. Whatever, it can't be that important. _Silver froze in the middle of his silent tantrum. He recognized that look in his eyes.

"What's up?" The redhead asked his rival.

Gold snapped up with a confused look on his face like he wasn't paying attention before answering, "Nah, it's nothing. Are you okay Silver? I don't think you reacted well when we met that punk."

"Don't change the topic," he said. "What's bugging you?" Silver gave Gold a hard look in the eye.

"Don't worry about it Silv," Gold laughed, whatever concern that weighed upon him completely gone. "Just wondering why he wore it himself. Maybe he doesn't have a water pokemon." Silver blankly watched his friend go back to his usual antics with an unsettling feeling down in his stomach.

* * *

Route 39

"Corsola, Recover!" A Beauty trainer commanded her pokemon. A pink coral like pokemon glowed bright blue and recovered from the damage down upon it. The water type pokemon hopped on its stubby base and cried its name.

"Corsola, sola, cor!" _ I can heal all day!_ The Corsola said as it eagerly bounced back into the battle. Its opponent was panting from the tough battle. There seemed to be no end to it. When Pidgeotto was almost done knocking out the pokemon, the water type would only use Recover again. How long could that Corsola continue to fight?

"Sora, try to knock it down again with Steel Wing!" Mirei shouted to the bird pokemon.

"Pidgey, geo, to!" _You are so annoying! _Pidgeotto's wings shone white. His wings became metallic and he flapped his wings as he sent metal blades flying at the coral pokemon, which made Corsola fly across the grass. The pink pokemon cried and tried to pick itself up again.

"Cor! Sola!" The coral pokemon turned its head and said, _Hey! How rude! _ Corsola glowed with pink light; sharp needle like spikes flew at Pidgeotto and stung the bird like a bumblebee. The bird pokemon shrieked from the surprise attack as Corsola cried, "Corsola, sola, corsola!" _That's not how you treat a lady!_ Corsola was barely standing from Pidgeotto's Steel Wing.

"Pidgjo?" _Wait, you're a girl?_ The bird pokemon turned his head in attempt to pluck the needles from his feathers. His feathers were ruffled and were scattered all over the grass from the fight. "Pidgey, pidgeotoo?" _How was I supposed to know?_ Pidgeotto fluffed out his feathers in anger. It's not like he was capable of telling Corsolas apart. He only saw one once.

"Sora, finish it with Steel Wing!" Mirei ordered.

"Pidgeotto!" _Yes, please!_ The bird pokemon happily shot more metallic feathers at the Corsola. The pink pokemon fainted before she could make any comments. Corsola's trainer handed the brunette trainer money and left the route with a huff.

"Geez, her Corsola was annoying to fight." Pidgeotto's trainer complained.

"Pidgey..." _Ugh... _ Pidgeotto's whole body glowed white as the bird grew taller in size. When the light disappeared, Sora was Mirei's height. His head crest has grown longer and extended to the length of his body and his tail feather was red.

"Sora evolved to Pidgeot!" Chiharu stared at the newly evolved flying type. Pidgeot swooped down to send a light gust of air above their heads.

"Another battle won!" Mirei cheered. "If we keep going like this, we'll get to Olivine in no time and I can defeat the gym leader!" She pumped her arm up, jumping up and down with her Leafeon smiling beside her.

"Let's rest," the other girl said. "I think I need to rest from biking through this route." Her bike was lying on the grass floor.

Although she and Mirei took turns participating in pokemon battles, Chiharu herself was more interested in catching the pokemon in the area. Chiharu saw two Magnemites earlier and enjoyed watching them interact. The two electric type pokemon flash light in different patterns. The catcher wondered if they communicated that way and saw that one Magnemite was impatient and charge against its friend when it tried to offer a nail to it. She guessed that the first Magnemite had a Hasty nature while its friend was Jolly because the second Magnemite didn't take the charge as an offence and happily offered a different nail instead.

"I guess we should rest," Mirei said. "So we can train some more!"

Her pokemon groaned in unison at the mention of more training. Leafeon did a face palm as his sister sighed at her brother's situation. Pidgeot stopped flying in the air and suddenly dropped to the floor with Psyducks flying around his head. Nidorina and Kazama exchanged wary looks and groaned.

Chiharu looked at her friend's pokemon and said, "I don't think they need any more training..." She chose her words with care, "They look very strong right now." She watched Leafeon's face change from tired to hopeful.

Mirei paused, "You're right. I'm tired." She looked at her newly evolved pokemon. "I just defeated a rock type with a flying type! That trainer was too weak for my pokemon!"

The brunette girl laughed like a madwoman. Chiharu almost found herself groaning with Mirei's pokemon and almost missed Mirei being mopey. Mirei flopped herself onto the fresh sweet grass to take a nap with her pokemon scattering around to catch up on free time.

"Leafeon, leaf, eon!" _Thank you Chiharu for convincing her!_ Leo cried in joy. He rushed into a patch of flowers to sniff them and hugged them with his soiled paws.

"Alakazam, kazam." _I suppose this is the closest we got to someone translating for us,_ Kazama said as he closed his eyes to take another nap.

"Nido, nido, dori, rina." _ I think we would be level 50 by now if Chiharu wasn't here,_ Kisaki said.

Espeon walked around the long route. The psychic type flicked her tail as she caught a glimpse of Gloom, who had evolved yesterday while fighting one of the Kimono Girl's Vaporeon. She watched the grass pokemon focus hard to the task with Golbat flying above to watch her training. It was odd seeing how a grass and flying pokemon could get along so well. When Chiharu wasn't training Gloom or Golbat, the two of them would have long conversations while training to become stronger.

"Growlithe?" _Asahi?_ Helios walked over to the psychic pokemon. "Ruff, ruff?" _You looking for something? _ The puppy pokemon was shorter than Espeon, but she knew that he would soon be several times her size when he evolves.

(I'm looking for Shion,) Asahi said, turning her head around for the yellow duck. (Have you seen him?) She noticed that the fire dog was staring at her when she asked the question. (What?)

"Ruff, ruff, growlithe!" _You're talking out loud again! _ He said in amazement. "Growlithe, lithe!" _I'm jealous. _ Helios wished that he could talk directly to his trainer. That way, he could tell her that he loved her very much and that she was the best trainer ever. And they could play fetch together, and roll in the mud, and chase Pachirisus, and-

Espeon sighed, "Espeon, espeon, peon, ep." _That's why I'm looking for him._ She said to her childhood friend, "Espeon, esp, peon." _I need to get better at Psychic and Telepathy._

"Ruff, ruff, growlithe!" _I saw Shion sitting by that berry patch!_ The dog pointed at the direction where the duck was with his nose. "Growlithe, ruff, growlithe?" _You want to go find some berries after you're done training? _

Growlithe asked the psychic pokemon with excitement in his eyes. Besides Chiharu, Growlithe spent most of his time talking and playing with Asahi when she was an Eevee. Helios was the first pokemon Chiharu had ever caught. When Asahi evolved, the energetic pokemon discovered that his childhood friend had become calmer and didn't run around as much as he did. She spent more time worrying about controlling her new powers than playing with him, much to his disappointment. Helios wagged his tail as he waited for Asahi's answer.

"Espeon, peon..." _I don't think I can..._ Espeon said, (Training will tire me out. Using Psychic all the time makes me hungry.) The sun pokemon felt guilty for making the fire pokemon sad at her decline.

"Ruff..." _Okay then..._

"Espeon, esp, esp," _I'm sorry Helios._ She hugged the fire dog briefly, "Espeon, espeon!" _But you'll always be my best friend! _ At that, the psychic pokemon ran off to train, leaving the puppy pokemon alone.

"Grow...lithe?" _Best...friend? _ Growlithe repeated her words. He covered his eyes with his paws and lay on the grass with a small whine.

* * *

"No, you did great against them!" Psyduck remembered his trainer praising him yesterday when that Umbreon nearly made him faint. "We did well for going against six strong pokemon!" Chiharu gave Psyduck a hug when they left the Ecruteak Dance Hall. She always gave him hugs. Every day.

Psyduck sat under a small berry tree, far from Chiharu and Mirei's pokemon. It wasn't that he was afraid of them or that he hated them. The water type felt like he couldn't be compared to them! Asahi was Chiharu's first pokemon and was the strongest, Helios was favored because he was always jolly and happy to serve his trainer, Kera was good at confusing pokemon for being captured, and Phoebe was new.

(There you are, Shion!)

The water pokemon looked up to see Espeon walking up to him. The purple feline excitedly exclaimed, (Now you can help me with training!)

"Psy?" _Didn't you train yesterday with Chiharu?_ The yellow duck remembered the Espeon nagging on her trainer for a while before the blue haired girl finally gave in to train her again. Although Asahi had tried to practice using Psychic on food and boulders, it would usually result in an annoyed Leo or angry pokemon attacking them for disturbing their sleep.

"Esp, espeon, peon." _Yes, but I still can't keep my mind private,_ Asahi said sadly. She nearly made a Lass trainer trip on her pokemon when Asahi accidentally started talking in battle. Chiharu had to make up an excuse that it was her who talked and that she was practicing to become an anime voice actor.

"Psyduck? Psy, yai, yaiduck?" _Why me?_ Shion pointed to himself, _Why don't you ask Kazama?_ The stubborn pokemon may be disobedient, but he was good at manipulating things with his psychic powers. "Psyduck, duck, psy." _He's a psychic pokemon, not me. _

(You can use Psychic!) She got excited, (You're good at it too!) Shion wasn't used to getting much attention from the sun pokemon and was feeling uncomfortable. Espeon then paused, (And I don't want to talk to Kazama. He's an ass. He's going to laugh at me for being bad at using Psychic.) In fact, the psi pokemon would be rolling on the floor from laughter.

"Psy...duck?" _You...think I'm good?_ No one beside Chiharu ever complimented him before... "Psy, psyduck, psy, duck, yai." _Well,_ the yellow duck pointed to the berries from the tree. _We can practice with those. _

(Aren't those too small?) Asahi wasn't used to moving things that were smaller than a poffin.

"Duck, duck, psy, duck, yai." _No,_ Shion shook his head. _If you can move small objects with ease, then you can move anything. _

Psyduck demonstrated by closing his eyes. He opened them again; his eyes were glowing blue. Blue aura outlined the small oran berries on the bush and floated away. Shion moved the oran berries in a small trapezoid formation with the berries moving in different rhyme and time. At last, he allowed the berries to drop to the floor and handed one to the sun pokemon.

"Psyduck," _You try._ The water pokemon said to Asahi.

Asahi focused her mind on the blue colored berries and glared at her target. A few berries rose from the grass and floated for a few minutes before dropping back to the ground. Espeon tried again and managed to make a few of the berries rise above a yard before letting them go to roll on the floor again.

As she continued the exercise, Shion watched her carefully, making sure that she was in the right mindset and was entirely focused to her task. They talked very little with only a few comments in between the mini exercises. Each time Asahi redid the exercise, the berries stayed in the air for a longer period of time than the last. By the time Espeon noticed that the other pokemon were returning to their pokeballs, she had managed to manipulate the berries long enough to perform the same feat as Shion did in his demonstration. Her psychic powers were still wobbly, but she had managed to learn how to use for powers for small detailed work. She was starving when they were done training.

"Psy, yai, psyduck." _That's good_, Shion said when they were wrapping up their training. _We can work on bigger objects later. _ Psyduck practiced with Espeon and was hungry as well.

"Esp, espeon?" _Hey, Shion? _ Asahi said, "Peon, eon, esp, esp?" _Why do you talk differently than most Psyducks? _ The two pokemon were now walking back to where Mirei and Chiharu were.

Shion looked down and said, "Psyduck." _I don't know._ "Psyduck, psy." _I'm different. _

Most Psyducks complained about their headaches and forgetting what they were doing. They didn't hold very long conversations and would constantly hold their heads out of pain. Shion spoke normally and his vocabulary was noticeably higher than the average Psyduck. Shion only held his head with his arms when he was having a severe headache, which was rare. Chiharu's Psyduck almost functioned like a normal pokemon.

The duck then continued, "Duck, psy, duck, psy, yai, duck." _My group always tried to abandon me because I wasn't like them. _Some of the Psyducks would pretend that they have forgotten Shion, not a difficult task to do as they were forgetful pokemon. "Psyduck, yai, psyduck." _They forgot me in the flowerbeds at Chiharu's house when she found me. _

(I...didn't know that...) Asahi was speechless. (Your group really forgot about you?) She never met other pokemon of her kind besides her family, but to be ignored by the same species... It was so sad.

"Psyduck, psyduck." _I thought there was something wrong with me, _Shion continued. "Psyduck, yai, psy." _Chiharu was so nice to me when I came to her. _

She was so patient when the yellow duck waddled behind her around the house. Chiharu didn't yell at him when he accidentally spilled the flower vase on the piano. His trainer didn't mind him always trying to help and would thank him for trying. She even defended him when Keigo accused Shion of tracking mud in the house when it was actually a Rattata who did it.

(There's nothing wrong with you!) Espeon snapped at Shion. (You're better than the other Psyducks! You don't abandon your friends!)

"Psyduck?" _You mean we're friends?_ The yellow duck looked at the purple pokemon questioningly.

(Of course we are!) She exclaimed, (All of us! Me, Helios, Chiharu, Mirei, Sora, all of us!) The psychic type said, (Is something worrying you?) Psyduck seemed depress ever since he left the Ecruteak Dance Hall yesterday. Was he worried about not being able to fight?

"Psyduck," Sora_ evolved_, Shion said and pointed at the bird pokemon, who was flying in the air doing acrobatic stunts. Psyduck moved his arms from side to side, "Yai, duck, duck." _I think I will soon. _ His headache was getting lighter and he could feel his body signaling him to change.

(Isn't it a good thing?) Asahi asked, (You're going to evolve!) Psyduck would become stronger and be a more efficient pokemon to surf with. She saw Shion's uncertain expression and asked, (You don't want to evolve?) Shion shook his head.

His trainer liked Psyducks because of the way their waddled and were 'cute'. Chiharu liked water pokemon in general and liked to use them in battles when given the chance. She could have easily caught another Psyduck. She could have caught a different pokemon instead of a Psyduck.

"Psyduck, psy, yai." _Chiharu only likes me because I'm cute, _Shion looked doubtful. "Psyduck, psyduck, duck, psy." _I was only picked because Satsuki had her catch me. _

(That's not true!) Asahi said, (Those Psyducks were near her house her whole life! She could have caught one before she got you, but she didn't!)

"Psyduck, psy." _Only because Satsuki wouldn't let her._ He scratched his head, remembering seeing the other girl put her hands over her ears whenever she walked by his group.

(Chiharu kept you because she liked having you around,) the psychic type tried to cheer up the yellow duck. (She even hugs you every day!) Shion received more hugs than Asahi ever did in a lifetime. The feline pokemon wasn't jealous of Psyduck; he deserved it with his low self esteem. Shion worked hard to please his trainer, almost as hard as their newest friend, Phoebe.

"Duck, yai?" _What if she stops hugging me when I evolve? _ Psyduck cried, _I'm not as strong as you or Kera! _

(Stops hugging you if you evolve? Not strong enough?) So that was the problem. Asahi was unsure of how to handle the sad pokemon and was struggling to find the right words to comfort him.

"Shion?" Before Asahi could continue, Chiharu walked up to the two pokemon. She kneeled down and said, "You're afraid of evolving?"

Then it came to Asahi. She must have said the entire conversation out loud. The sun pokemon mentally cursed to herself. She could lift objects at ease, but telepathy could still use some practice. Espeon took her cue and went back to Mirei and the other pokemon, leaving Chiharu and Shion alone.

"Psyduck, psy..." _I'm not ready..._ He looked unhappy. "Yai, yai, psy, yai!" _I'm not good enough! _ He could never be as strong as Chiharu or Mirei's pokemon. Shion waited for disappointment from his trainer.

"I don't think you're weak," Chiharu said slowly. "You're not." She thought of the times Shion helped her catch pokemon with Disable and Psychic. "You helped me beat Matsuba and find out about that prophecy." She smiled at the pokemon.

"Psy..." _But..._

"Strength isn't all about fighting," she continued. "Asahi's right. You're better than those other Psyducks. I wouldn't choose them any other day." She never knew that Shion was rejected by his own kind. The girl always assumed that Shion got lost because of his forgetfulness.

"You don't have to evolve now," Chiharu said and hugged Shion. "You can evolve whenever you're ready. I'm not forcing you to change."

(You'll be fine,) Psyduck saw Asahi come back for them. "Espeon, esp, peon, esp," _She'll still hug you anyway if you evolved. _ She pointed at the trainer who was still hugging the yellow duck.

"Psy, duck." _Thank you, Asahi. _Psyduck quacked, still in Chiharu's arms. "Psyduck, psy..." _Thank you, Chiharu..._

"What took you guys so long?" Mirei asked when Chiharu came back with Psyduck and Espeon. The water and psychic type pokemon were walking right behind their trainer. Mirei had already called back her pokemon and had her pink bike in position. "If we bike downhill, we can get to Olivine City soon!"

Chiharu smiled, "Asahi was just training again. I had to talk to them about something." She returned the two pokemon into their pokeballs and made her blue bike stand up. "I'm ready when you are."

"Last one to Olivine City is a rotten Exeggcute!" The brunette speed down the slope laughing.

"Hey, no fair! You cheated!" She chased after her friend down the hill.

"Alakazam..." _It's like they never fought... _Kazama said as he floated through the air with his trainer. He wondered if it was her victory in battles that made his trainer almost forget about the argument the other day.

"Golbat, bat." _Let's enjoy that for now,_ Kera flew over Chiharu. The two trainers bickered childish taunts as they raced down route 39 to the port city ahead.

* * *

Extra Notes:

**katakana (1)** - A Japanese phonetic alphabet system used for foreign words and names.

**Shirogane (2)** - We can't see a parent naming their child Silver in Japan. As cool as the name Silver is, I can't see that being his birth name because it is a foreign name. Shirogane is the Japanese name of Mt. Silver. For those who are curious, yes, Hibiki is Ethan's Japanese name for Pokemon Heartgold and Soulsilver. Silver however is still known as Silver in the remake games for some reason.

* * *

**Author Notes:** It took awhile to write this chapter because there was a lot to cover in the chapter. Question of the chapter: Did you play as Gold or Crystal in the original Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal? For those who only played HGSS, did you play as Ethan or Lyra? Please leave a comment or review the story. Until next time, see you later!


	11. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

* * *

**Japanese Names:**

Sakaki = Giovanni

* * *

**Disclaimer:** We do not own pokemon in any shape or form. This fanfic is written for entertainment and self enjoyment with OC characters and plot own by us. Game characters' personalities are based off game counterparts.

* * *

Ecruteak Gym

The Viridian gym leader found himself staring at the Ho-Oh painting again. The painting was done in oil paint on a small canvas displayed at the front of Matsuba's gym. He and Red have checked on Matsuba this morning to see if his condition had improved. The gym leader was still out of it when they met him due to the medications, but he was aware enough to tell them the whole prophecy.

"Green?" His friend's voice came out of the blue.

"What is it?"

The brunette looked up to see the red eyed trainer giving him a look of concern. Although Red didn't talk much, he could still be expressive through facial expressions and body language if he chose to, which wasn't that often. Years of seclusion has made Red lose his sense of interacting with other human beings. The gym leader couldn't recall if any other human being lived at Mt. Silver beside the pokemon nurse or the movie star, who also chose to live away from the rest of the world.

"What do you think?" Red whispered.

"You mean the prophecy?" Green mumbled back, "It's...odd." Six trainers looking up at Ho-Oh, one is reaching out for it, and the last one lying in the shadows. It was so vague. The gym leader wasn't one for believing in things like faith and destiny, but after spending years running into odd happenings, it was no longer hard to believe in such things.

The Kanto champion understood him and nodded, "There were two before us."

His Espeon was out of its pokeball. The feline pokemon sniffed the stiff air. The gym had no trainers because its gym leader was in the hospital. All of the gym trainers were gone and the referee was only there to open the gym for them. Espeon couldn't sense any change in emotions in the atmosphere. Red absently pets the psychic pokemon when it came back with no results.

"Matsuba said that he had already found two of those trainers before us," Green finished. The ghost trainer described them as two teenage girls, no older than sixteen years old. One was a proud brunette whose battling style was purely offense while the other trainer had blue hair and used status changing moves to battle.

"He said they were going to Olivine," the raven haired trainer said, still petting his Espeon. "They're probably going for the badges." They have gone back to the gym to search for any further evidence in whom the attacker was, but they were out of luck.

"Yeah," Green turned away from the painting to look at the rest of the gym. The gym was not open to the public since yesterday. It was odd to be inside an empty gym; it reminded him of Sakaki's gym when he first moved in. The air conditioner was turned off and the room was warm and humid.

Red took out a red device that was folded like a small notepad. He flipped open the machine and said, "Too bad I can't use this." He missed being able to track pokemon. However, he and Green have only met Kanto's legendary pokemon. They would not be able to locate legendaries of other regions.

"That's the new Pokedex in Kanto!" The green eyed trainer gawked at the red machine in his hand. The Pokedex looked exactly like the one Green had in his bag right now. He asked, "When did you get that?"

"Blue gave it to me," Red said. "When I left for Sinnoh." The girl insisted that the Kanto champion had to update his Pokedex if he was going to visit a new region. She was actually right. Red spent a lot of time in Sinnoh looking up the pokemon, noting that many of them resembled some of the pokemon back in Kanto. A ringing sound came out of Red's backpack, startling the champion, who wasn't used to getting many phone calls.

"H-hello?" Red answered his red Pokegear, which was taking out of the upper compartment of the backpack.

"RED~!" A loud boisterous voice filled his ear canal. Red distances the red communication device away from his ear to hear the caller shout, "RED RED RED RED RED RED RED! Hey, you know how Blue, like, totally warned us that there was like, that legendary pokemon collector person?"

"Uh, yeah?" the Kanto champion plugged the ear closest to the Pokegear in the attempt to possibly lower the volume. Gold's voice rang loud and clear, despite the device already being on the lowest possible setting.

"So like, I think that the guy who tried to sneak into the lab was, like, totally that guy, you hear me?" His voice echoed through. Green snapped his head to the tiny electronic transceiver.

"Loud and clear," Green said warily from the summer's heat and started to fan himself with his hand.

"Okay, so like, we caught him and he started running when Silver called out his Alakazam. It was weird! Alakazam only used two moves and the guy already figured out that the two could Mind Sync, it was like he knew those two didn't need to talk, like at all, not even the pokemon!"

"I think most people would figure it out after he doesn't talk for a few moves," the gym leader said, distancing himself a little bit from the Pokegear from the caller's sheer volume.

"But, like, it was only after two and they were moves that Alakazam could have totally used on his own. Then like, the guy called out an Entei!"

"The volcano pokemon?" Red's eyes went wide.

"Yeah! Like, the trainer even talked to the legendary and said that they needed to, like, run." Gold's voice somehow sounded more excited like the teenager was jumping up and down from the other side of the call. Red imagined whoever was nearby the teen was rolling their eyes.

"What did he look like?" Green asked.

"Um, punkish? Totally punk more or less. He had chains and belts and crap everywhere, though his, like, clothes look pretty damn loose." Gold recalled.

"Gold..." Red's voice gave off a warning tone, like the teenager was going too far with something.

"Had, like, gears that were shaped into pokeballs for the loose parts of his short sleeved hoodie and the zipper part too," The other champion ranted on. ""He also had a Ralts and an Eevee. They don't look at all trained. Like, totally."

_Bingo, looks like Matsuba's attacker had somehow shown up further down south for the last several hours, but how?_ Green asked himself, his mind crashed into a crazy train wreck._ What about the blue haired trainer that was the 'legendary catcher' and her friend? Was there more than one person going after legendary pokemon? It seemed likely. _He was still in deep thought and added to himself, _One person going after several legendaries could take years to accomplish and it could end disastrously. Perhaps those girls were 'looking for their friend' as an excuse to catch legendary pokemon. Maybe they were working with that punk trainer? _

"But like, a weird thing was, HE DIDN'T SAY A SINGLE WORD TO ANY OF US!" The Johto champion whined. "Like, seriously, NOT A SINGLE WORD. He was like, totally deaf to all of us. He only talked to his pokemon..."

"Doesn't talk?" Red said.

"Oh yeah, I forgot. Like, his Eevee's name is like, Elliot or something like that. It was like, so not cute when that pokemon flashed out of his pokeball without his trainer's permission and all-"

"CAN YOU STOP TALKING LIKE A STUPID VALLEY GIRL?" Another voice interrupted the first caller, followed by a few crashes and a girl's voice in the background.

"Hey! I'm trying to tell my senior what is happening!" Gold said it in a tone like he was pouting, "I found the thief and you're trying to interrupt me!"

"Interrupt you? I don't think they can _understand _you!" The other voice emphasized the end of his sentence.

"Aw come on Silvy- OW!" the teen's voice cried out on the other end. Red clearly imagined that the redhead was purely annoyed with his rival's use of odd pet names.

"Anyways," Silver's voice overtook the line. Through the static, one can hear Gold screaming something along the lines of "gimme back my gear" and "Silver, I'll never forgive you for this," and then a "now I can't tell Red about all those crazy hot nights we spend together-OW." The last one obviously ended with another smack in the head.

"We're done with this conversation!" Silver shouted over the phone. Red's Pokegear abruptly hung up with the tone still on. The empty gym was met with a long silence with the two Kanto trainers exchanging weird looks.

"Well, that was fun," the Kanto champion rubbed his poor ears.

"If those girls are in Olivine," Green said. "We can catch up to them by flying there right now." He mused on the thought of possibly catching the pokemon thief. Red saw that determined look in his eyes.

"It might not be them," Red said quietly. His Espeon looked up at the Viridian gym leader and tilt its head.

"Her grandfather said so himself, 'legendaries', Red," Green groaned while he stretched out his back. He called out his Charizard, preparing for the flight back to the port city. He ignored the strange stares he was receiving from the citizens of the city. It was a rare sight to see a Kanto champion in Johto.

"Where you actually listening to what he said?" He asked. Green fell silent when his friend asked him the question. Red noticed his childhood friend zoning out while the old man was blurting out random tales of his life and his family. The gym leader had that glassy look in his eyes, somewhere in a different world.

"What kind of person would casually talk about legendaries in everyday conversation?" The green eyed trainer shot back, "Where you listening to everything he said?"

"No." Red wasn't paying attention either after the grandfather introduced himself and gave them the bare bones of their situation. He had no interest in the minor details of a villager man's life or of his children.

"He knows more than most people do," Green said. "This has to be it."

"Does he look like he's reliable in keeping secrets?" Red questioned, as he released his own flying type, Aerodactyl. The prehistoric pokemon stretches its neck and roared to the sky. The two gym leaders signaled the referee that they were done and allowed him to lock the gym after they stepped out of the building.

"There has to be some ounce of truth in what he says," Green was desperate for hints and this was the closest they got. Other than that, they had no idea who the pokemon thief could be, where the thief was, or what the thief's objections were. He was ready to grab the first evidence he saw.

"I don't know about this," the champion said.

"We better hurry, they may have left already," the brunette rushed, hopping onto his fire hybrid. "I want to get to Olivine before the night comes. Fly!"

* * *

"Red, how many times have I said to go left?" Green yelled over Charizard's wings. His Charizard was enjoying the rush of the breeze as the fire type pokemon swooped down the route to scare a few wandering Miltanks, who have walked off too far from the rest of its herd.

"What?" Red had to raise his voice, as the brunette can be quite deaf.

"I said left." The gym leader repeated himself over the wind.

After leaving Ecruteak City, the two young men found themselves in the middle of what they thought was route 38. Or was it route 39? They thought that flying to a city they have been to before would have been a cinch, but now they were not too sure. The whole route looked identical where every bush and tree repeated in the same pattern. The routes had no landmarks and the same pokemon appeared in every corner. Green also noticed that the place had a lot of Tauros and Miltanks. The bull and cow pokemon were constantly flirting with each other and sat on the grass with a dumb look on their faces.

"By now much?" Red asked.

"By seventy five degrees!"

"What the hell is seventy five degrees?" the Kanto champion replied, a vein pulsing in his head. _Why can't he just turn and I follow?_ He asked himself with an annoyed expression. How was he supposed to understand what degrees were? It has been years since he took a math class of any sort.

_It's a wonder we didn't get lost in Mt. Silver,_ Red's Aerodactyl, Pte, rolled his eyes as it roared to Charizard. _You would think we would be in the city by now. _The rock type pokemon looked like it was trying not to laugh and touched the top of the trees with his claws.

_I think Green went the wrong direction, I'm pretty sure that the city is straight east not north-east,_ the fire pokemon called out. _Those Miltanks look fine mighty good, _the dragon like pokemon licked its lips as it glared at the pink colored cow pokemon with hunger.

"Seventy five degrees is a little less than a quarter from a clock!" The gym leader raised his voice, "Counter clockwise!" Green pulled on his Charizard's horns and shouted, "Stop looking at those Miltanks like that! No! You can't eat them! They're someone's property!" The fire starter growled in disagreement, but obeyed his trainer and flew higher up.

"Just tell me the number on the clock!" Red screamed out while the gym leader loudly groaned.

What was the point of learning degrees if he didn't have to use it in everyday situations? Red found it frustrating how symmetrical the whole route was. It was impossible to tell if they were flying the right direction or if they were flying in circles. The champion was getting tired of watching the Tauros and Miltank flock together in herds. He was told that there was a farm in the middle of route 39, but he had yet to see a farm. It was hard to tell if the bull and cow pokemon were wild or if they had owners. He grew up as a city boy and he had no interest in the countryside whatsoever. Even Mt. Silver was more interesting than this route with all the strong wild pokemon and the harsh climate.

"HOW THE HELL DO YOU NOT KNOW WHAT IS SEVENTY-FIVE DEGREES?" Green's voice rose in volume while their pokemon winced from their trainers' exaggerated tone.

"WHY WOULD I NEED TO KNOW WHAT IS SEVENTY-FIVE DEGREES WHEN I'VE BEEN TRAINING ON A MOUNTAIN?" The Kanto champion gave up keeping his voice down and hollered back at Green.

"OKAY THEN, WHY THE HELL WERE YOU ON THAT GODDAMNED FORSAKEN MOUNTAIN IN THE FIRST PLACE?" Green demanded, bringing up the topic that was dropped several days ago when Red was about to puke on the S. S. Aqua's floor.

"I SAID IT EARLIER ALREADY." He didn't want to talk about it again. He made Aerodactyl take a sharp turn to where he thought Olivine City was. He spied a farm below him. The Miltank cattle from earlier were pokemon that wandered too far from their home. They were at the main part of the farm.

"WHAT?" The gym leader asked, unable to hear from the wind whistling through his ears

"I SAID, I SAID IT EARLIER ALREADY." Red's voice was beginning to grow hoarse.

"WHAT?" He repeated.

"DAMMIT, I SAID I WAS THERE FOR TRAINING!"

_I'm hungry, _Aerodactyl yawned while the two trainers argued. _You think they're going to finish bickering? They're acting like a bunch of newly hatched Omanyte._ In fact, those baby Omanyte were always crying for food from their parents, well, until something happened to them.

_Couldn't they just check their Pokedex? _ Charizard shrugged, still eyeing the farm they were passing by.

It was the stereotypical red barn that appeared in children books with C for cow. Next to the barn was a small house that probably belonged to the owners of the ranch and there was a stable nearby. In front of the barn was a fenced in ranch full of pokemon. The two trainers didn't seem to notice that the path downhill had several trainers lined up. That must have been the main path of route 39.

_Wait, don't you mean Pokegear?_ The flying rock type corrected.

The fire type pokemon roared, _Pokegear, Pokedex, same thing. Both are red._ The winged pokemon was never the type to pay too much attention to such details. Humans had devices for everything; it was almost ridiculous.

_Aren't they really different?_ Aerodactyl asked with a confused tone. _Wasn't the Pokedex that rectangular red thingy and the Pokegear is that watch thing..? Or was that something else in Sinnoh? Ah, all these trainers and their fancy gizmos and gadgets. _Silly how useless humans could be without their devices.

_Uh, I don't think these two own watches, Pte..._

The prehistoric pokemon shook its head when it suddenly froze in place for a split section. The rock type pokemon heard cawing from the distance and people chattering. Was that the sound of Wingull? The sound of the water pokemon excited Aerodactyl. The trainers said they were going back to a city next to the ocean, right? Wingulls meant ocean. Ocean meant Olivine City. They were going to the right direction.

Aerodactyl thought of the trainers below them and roared, _I think Olivine is down there. _ The pokemon pointed its arrow shaped tail down south.

_I think so too, _Charizard roared back. _I can hear lunch coming! _ Now his trainer could feed him pokemon food and maybe some of those Pokeblocks he got for Christmas from that girl trainer, Blue. The fire pokemon cared about his trainer and his health, but he was a hungry pokemon and he couldn't do anything for his trainer unless he was full and bloated.

"Pte, where are you going..?" the Kanto champion asked his pokemon, who suddenly dipped down and snapped towards an about seven o'clock turn.

"Red, where do you think they're going?" There was panic in his voice. Green called to his friend as his Charizard began to pick up speed in the same direction.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" Red shouted back; the gym leader's voice sounded like a whisper in a crowded plaza.

"SCREW IT, NEVERMIND." Green slammed his head onto the back of his pokemon's skull, only to rebound. He began to rub the round, red skin that centered on his forehead. The champion poorly disguised a snicker with a cough as the two descended towards the port city.

* * *

Pokemon Center - Olivine City

"I can't believe I lost again..." Mirei groaned when she woke up from her blackout later that day. "I lost...twice!"

She glared at the ceiling angrily. How could she lose so easily? After Pidgeot evolved, she and Mirei rested before arriving to Olivine by bike. The gym leader was tough! The Olivine City trainer had three steel types with her while Mirei only had one pokemon that had any super effective attacks on the opponent's pokemon. Mirei's Nidorina had no issue on Mikan's Magnemites, not surprisingly since the poison pokemon had plenty of practice fighting against the magnet pokemon from route 38 and 39. Mikan's last pokemon however, sweep the entire team, leaving Mirei with no pokemon left to fight. Mirei was knocked out for an hour before waking up to rechallenge the steel clad trainer, only to lose again. The brunette trainer was about to get up when the door suddenly slammed open with Chiharu coming in.

"You're awake!" Chiharu sounded relieved, "You want to go to Olivine Pier and go fishing?" The blue haired trainer was holding a fishing rod with Phoebe by her side. The Gloom was holding bait for her trainer.

"I need to defeat her," Mirei gritted her teeth. "I need to get my fifth badge!"

"Maybe you'll find a pokemon to counter her steel types," the catcher said, looking uneasy. This was the second gym her friend was struggling with. She could be losing it any minute now. "I hear that Strays come out at night to the ocean's surface," Chiharu continued. "I hear they look like stars in the sky."

"Maybe you're right," the battler frowned. She grabbed her bag and said, "Maybe I can fish for a Staryu and crush her Steelix with it!"

Chiharu sighed. She was one tracked as usual, but at least she was agreeing with her again. _Where is that tower? _ The blue haired trainer wondered. Was the tower in the ocean or was it near the Safari Zone in Cianwood? Chiharu was unsure of what she was supposed to be looking for. She then asked, "You ready, Mirei?"

Mirei grabbed her black bag which matched her boots and said, "Yeah." Nidorina was out of her pokeball and was standing by her trainer. "Let's go!"

* * *

Olivine City Pier

_Hey, look! _ The pokemon flashed its red core, _Trainers! _

_Don't be silly,_ the other Staryu flashed back. _Trainers are just a myth!_ The star shaped pokemon resembled a bronze colored starfish with a red core in the middle of its body. The Staryus talked by flashing their cores like Morse code and making a few noises back and forth.

_That's what you think! _The first Staryu cried, _I saw one at the beach a few weeks ago! That trainer looked like a Tentacruel and had a scary face! _The starfish pokemon was very eager to share its story with its friend, who showed no interest.

_Not again..._ The other Staryu sighed. Staryu saw a piece of food dangling from above the water. It looked at it curiously and started swimming towards it. The first Staryu noticed this and started followed its friend.

_Hey look, free food. _ The first Staryu said, _I don't think you should go after it._

_Let me guess, it's a trap?_ It sounded like the other Staryu was rolling its eyes if it had any and kept swimming towards to the food. _For the last time, there is no such thing as traineeers! _ The last few words were dragged out when Staryu was pulled out of the water and met a pair of feet crashing against its red core. The water pokemon staggered at the surprise attack and saw that a human has fished it out. Shocked from the attack, Staryu fainted from the strong Double Kick and sank into the ocean to recover from the battle.

_Hey, you okay?_ The first Staryu saw its friend sink into the ocean, _Hello__? Darn it... _

"Ugh!" Mirei groaned, "Another one fainted!" Nidorina's ears drooped down, "It's okay, Kisaki. That Staryu was too weak, anyway."

The poison pokemon looked unhappy at her comment and sulked on the dock. It was dark when Mirei and Chiharu came out to Olivine City's pier to go fishing. The night sky was crisp and clear after the night rainfall casting a blanket of rain over the port city for an hour or so. The air had a clean salty taste if one was to stick out their tongue. After sitting on the dock for several minutes, the brunette had encountered a few pokemon, mostly Krabbies and Staryus. Unfortunately, most of them couldn't withstand Nidorina's attacks and have all fainted.

"You want to borrow Phoebe?" Chiharu asked, "She can help you catch a pokemon if you want." She pointed at her Gloom. The grass pokemon was now bigger. She kept her blue body and grew arms and her leaves have turned into a flower with dead leaves.

"That's okay," Mirei said. The trainer didn't say it out loud, but Phoebe stank. Ever since she evolved, the pokemon's flower carried a smell of rotten meat after using attacks like Stun Spore or Poison Powder. The stench was so strong that she was able to smell it despite her weak sense of smell.

A new Staryu came up to talk to the first one, who was still floating in the water near the dock. The new Staryu laughed, _They always follow the food!_

The first Staryu sighed. _I told him there were trainers and he wouldn't believe me. _ The water pokemon sounded disappointed.

_Of course there are trainers!_ The other pokemon cried, _Just like how there are aliens! _Staryu looked up at the sky and said, _Hello, hello. This is Staryu 0120, can you read me? _The star pokemon flashed its red core at the twinkling stars above it.

_There is no such thing as aliens! _ The Staryu was annoyed, _You are not from space! Talking to the stars all day will do nothing!_ The other Staryu had an odd habit of staring at the sky every night and talking to the stars like its family was from there.

"I wonder what the Staryus are saying." Chiharu was lying on her stomach as she gazed at the spot in the ocean where red spots glowed in the dark. They really did look like stars at night. She saw a few brave Staryus come up close to take a look at the trainers.

Chiharu's Espeon groaned, (You're not missing much.) The psychic pokemon mumbled, (They talk like they've never seen trainers before.)

The blue haired trainer noticed that her pokemon didn't overreact when she was talking and said, "So you have some control with your talking now?" Chiharu didn't hear as many random thoughts today as she had the day before.

(Somewhat,) Asahi flicked her tail. (Training with Shion helped me a lot.)

"Shion is a good pokemon," Chiharu smiled. "I'm glad I overheard the conversation yesterday..." She didn't realize how much evolution bothered the yellow duck pokemon. She hoped that Psyduck felt better now about the subject; Psyduck looked happier today and smiled more often with the other pokemon.

(You're not going to catch a Staryu, are you?) Asahi didn't like the idea of having to deal with the odd star pokemon talking about aliens or conspiracy theories.

"I already caught one with Phoebe earlier," her trainer replied. "Anyway, I sent that Staryu to the PC so Keigo can have it live in the ranch. Can Mirei hear all of this?" Chiharu turned her head to look at her friend, who didn't show any signs of hearing their conversation. Mirei's pokemon didn't seem to hear it either.

(I can limit my conversation to one person now,) the psychic pokemon smiled. (But it still takes a lot of effort to do so.)

"Hey! I got something!" Mirei cried. She felt a tug on the fishing rod and reeled in her line. A small round blue pokemon flew out of the water with a soft squeak. It had tiny white fins and blue feet with a large set of antennas with yellow orbs at the end. The reeled in water pokemon had plus signs as its eyes.

"Chinchou!" The pokemon squeaked, _Hello! _

"A Chinchou?" Chiharu turned her head to see the pokemon landing on the dock. The pokemon cheerfully jumped around on land and smiled. The catcher stared at Chinchou for a moment before saying, "It's a female."

Mirei looked at Chiharu with confusion written on her face. "How can you tell?" she wondered. "I'm pretty sure they all look the same."

Without a Pokedex, she had to rely on Chiharu's guesses to determine the pokemon's gender if they were in the middle of nowhere. If they were near a Pokemon Center, Mirei would find out the pokemon's gender and level by talking to the nurse or checking the PC. She taught her pokemon moves based off of information she read from the internet and from the information provided by the PC.

"Actually, females are bigger than males and you can see under their gills-"

"I don't want to know," Mirei interrupted her friend, not wanting to hear the details of the water pokemon's anatomy. "I just need something that can defeat Mikan, but this doesn't look like it would be able to..." She looked disapprovingly at the little blue pokemon skipping about with excitement and fascination on the wooden surface.

"Chin, chou. Chin, chou." the Chinchou sang as it nodded its head to the music playing in the background from a restaurant nearby and nearly tripped over, unused to walking on dry land.

Mirei watched the pokemon as it chanted the lyrics of its own song, thinking about how ridiculously it was behaving for a wild pokemon. Chinchou was singing too loudly to notice the disapproving look Mirei was sending to the angler pokemon. Catching Chinchou was a stupid idea. They would not be able to fight that man with a Chinchou.

"Nidorina?" _Where are you going? _ Nidorina followed the pokemon hopping around the dock. She moved the angler pokemon away from a fisherman with her horn when she saw it walk almost blindly towards the fisherman.

"Chinchou, chou!" _I don't know! _ The electric type laughed and said, "Chou, chou!" _This is fun!_ Chinchou splashed in a small puddle nearby.

"Chinchou are pretty rare," Chiharu mused, watching the very happy pokemon dance on the dock. "They don't normally come up from the bottom of the ocean. They usually only show up at night."

"Nidorina?" _Are we going to fight it? _Mirei's Nidorina looked at the water pokemon with interest. She has never seen a pokemon like it before.

The Chinchou began dancing around her feet, still chanting musically. She simply stared at the pokemon before firmly declaring, "Rare or not, I'm not catching it. I doubt that it would be able to do anything against that gym leader or him for that matter." Then she turned so that she was facing Chiharu. "Let's just go back to the Pokemon Center."

"But... Isn't Steelix weak against-" Chiharu started when Mirei flashed a glare. With a sigh, she gave the blue fish a quick glance, expressing some sadness. Mirei put her fishing rod back into her item capsule along with a few pokeballs and healing items. Chiharu already had all her stuff in her bag because she had finished catching a few pokemon. The two girls stood up to leave.

Chinchou stopped bouncing about and watched the retreating backs of the two trainers. The water pokemon saw them chatting to each other and their pokemon as they were walking towards the red roofed building not too far from the pier. Chinchou hopped on the wooden dock to catch their attention and cried out its name a few times. Mirei tilted her head towards the blue pokemon's direction but didn't seem to be looking at it.

"Chou..." _Aw..._ Her yellow antennas drooped when she saw that they weren't coming back. "Chou?" _Huh? _ She noticed that the red roofed building had a pokeball design on its doors. Chinchou hopped to the building and was ignored by the pokemon nurse when she passed through the glass automatic doors.

* * *

Pokemon Center - Olivine City

"It looks like I have no pokemon to fight Mikan with," Mirei sighed when she and Chiharu were back in their rooms. This pokemon center chose to go with an ocean scheme and had the room decorated with blue bunk beds and curtains with water pokemon designs on them. She shook her head when she noticed that there was a Chinchou imprint on the border of the walls.

"You could have-" Chiharu was once again interrupted by a stare.

"Pidgeo, geot!" _ We'll think of something!_ Pidgeot was sitting on Mirei's bed beside her.

"Nidorina, rina?" _Maybe if you teach me Dig for that Steelix?_ Kisaki suggested to her trainer.

(Kisaki said that you can teach her Dig,) Espeon said with boredom.

She was the translator as an Eevee, she was still the translator now. Things haven't changed much. At least doing the translating could help her practice her telepathy. The purple feline was lying down lazily on the floor near the door. She noticed that something blue was peeking out from the door, but when she looked again, it was gone. Espeon shrugged.

Upon hearing that suggestion, Mirei went digging in her bag in search of TM28. Mirei shuffled through and found potions, pokeballs, sleeping bag and many other miscellaneous objects that have found its way into her bag. She finally found the bronze colored CD and took out her pink CD player.

"Here it is," her face lit up when she found it. "That was a good idea, Kisaki," she praised the spiked pokemon. The brunette placed the CD into the CD player and offered a pair of earphones to Nidorina. Once the poison type pokemon had the earphones in place, she listened to the recording for a few minutes in silence.

"Pidgeot, pidgeot." _I guess I can't be used for the gym leader_, the bird pokemon grumbled. Using Steel Wing against a steel pokemon was a terrible idea.

"Alakazam," _She's not going to be able to defeat Mikan._ Mirei's Alakazam remarked, but was ignored by Pidgeot, who was too busy bemoaning about his uselessness against a steel type gym.

"Nidorina," Kisaki took off the earphones. _ I'm done._ The poison type handed the CD player back to her trainer. Mirei opened the CD player and found the bronze colored CD broken into many pieces.

"Not again..." the brunette trainer groaned. "They always break."

"You know how Silph Co. is," Chiharu looked at the broken CD. "They make those TMs cheap so we have to buy them again and again."

The trainer read a news article a few months ago that a company in Unova had developed TMs that were capable of being used more than once. All HMs were durable and could be used more than once because they were made of tougher materials and were designed by the gym leaders themselves. TMs in most regions, however, were made of weaker materials and would break automatically after first use.

"Nidorina," _Thanks for the TM._ Kisaki nudged her trainer.

"It's getting late," Chiharu came out of the bathroom and was already in her pajamas. Her hair was down and she had already brushed her teeth. She glared at her blue Pokegear for the time. "We should get some rest for tomorrow's gym battle." She has not battled the gym leader yet because she had to look after Mirei after her blackout from the battle.

"All right then," Mirei said. She was already in her pajamas and was ready to go to sleep. She said to her pokemon, "Alright guys, time to sleep!" After Mirei and Chiharu's pokemon went back to their pokeballs, Mirei turned off the light and almost fell asleep immediately when her head hit the pillows. She didn't notice a dim yellow glow coming from her bag.

* * *

**Author Notes:** New chapters will be post on Friday from now on due to schedule changes of the authors in real life. We're pretty happy that we decided to explore deeper into pokemon interactions. It adds more drama and it makes the pokemon feel more than just pets who fight for their trainers. It was difficult to think of a good logical method of how pokemon should learn TM moves. Lots of parodies show the pokemon eating the CD, but we wanted to make it realistic, so having the TMs be recordings to teach the pokemon was the best approach for us. Question of the chapter: What is your favorite water pokemon and why? Remember to read and review! Until next time, see you later!

* * *

"**RainSonata":** My favorite character in this chapter has to be Conspiracy Staryu, the Staryu that claims that trainers exist. The poor thing lost its friend when it was lured into bait. I love water pokemon! I want that Chinchou... If Mirei doesn't want it, I'll keep it. =_=

"**LunarAbyss":**… CHINCHOU, COME HERE AND I'LL GIVE YOU ATTENTION. Why are you so mean to that innocent pokemon?


	12. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

* * *

**Disclaimer:**We do not own pokemon. Pokemon is owned by Satoshi Tajiri, Game Freak, and Nintendo. OCs and plot belongs to us, game characters' personalities are loosely based off of their game counterparts. We are writing this fanfic for entertainment and self enjoyment while waiting for Pokemon X and Y to come out in October as this chapter is being written in the middle of June.

* * *

Olivine City

"Closed?" Mirei stared at the white sign in front of the Olivine City gym. "But she was here yesterday!" The pink clad girl glared at the white piece of paper taped on the locked door with metallic blue writing saying,

_'Sorry, I was called last minute to be a Super Contest judge in Sinnoh. Will be back as soon as possible._

_- Mikan'._

"I guess we'll have to go to another gym then," Chiharu said, a part of her thankful for the steel clad trainer's departing. Even with Nidorina learning Dig, she had doubts that her friend would last long in a fight against a Steelix that knew Sandstorm along with other physical attacks her pokemon were weak against.

"What other gym is there?" The brunette grumbled and took out her pink Pokegear to check Johto's map.

"There's always Cianwood City!" Chiharu sounded excited now, "The gym leader uses fighting pokemon. Your team should have no problem!"

They left the Pokemon Center early today in hopes of finishing the gym battle early so that they could have a nice long lunch without worrying about training. After stuffing their pokeballs and potions into their bags, they made a run for the cafeteria and had a quick breakfast before leaving. Mirei felt a sudden gain in weight in her bag, but she shrugged it off. She figured that it was the amount of potions that took up the weight.

Mirei bit her lip and said, "I guess we can." Her face turned pale when she took a glance at Johto's map and looked away. She turned her head back to the Pokegear to recheck, hoping that her eyes were fooling her. Route 40 and 41 were still marked on the electronic device's screen. It was a water route.

"I don't have any water pokemon," Mirei didn't like where this was going. She couldn't take her eyes away from the ocean route. "I can't swim..."

"Let me check something," her friend took out her Pokegear and connected it to the gym's Wi-Fi service. She looked up Mirei's team to see if any of them were compatible to learn the HM move Surf. Chiharu got zero results. Kisaki could learn the attack if she was to evolve, but she was still a Nidorina.

"What am I going to do?" The brunette bemoaned. "How are we supposed to get to Cianwood City?" She looked up at the too perfect blue sky. It was like the weather was mocking her.

"You don't have a Moon Stone?" Chiharu asked hopefully. The girl shook her head.

"I guess I have to go fishing again for a pokemon," Mirei grumbled. She opened the upper compartment of her bag in search of the capsule that contained her fishing rod when a blue ball jumped out of her bag with a squeal.

"Chin, chou!" _Water!_ The blue blob screamed. The blob flopped on land like a fish out of water with its mouth gasping for air.

"Chinchou?" Mirei nearly had a heart attack from the pokemon's sudden appearance.

Mirei stared at the very dehydrated water pokemon, whose skin had dried up and was starting to crack from lack of water like an old pumpkin. Its usually bright glowing antennas were lit up dimly and were shriveled up. Its plus sign eyes were close to resembling x's. Chiharu took action and grabbed a spray bottle out of her bag and sprayed the Chinchou.

"Chou, chou!" _Water! Water! _ The angler pokemon danced under the rain, too happy to get moisture back into its small body. Chiharu gave the Chinchou enough water so that it was splashing in a small puddle. Chinchou's antennas instantly shined, blinding the two trainers.

"Can you stop that, Chinchou?" Mirei shielded her eyes from the electric pokemon's glow. Chinchou stopped and smiled at the girl. "How did it get in my bag?" She was annoyed that the pokemon was hiding in her bag the whole time.

"Chinchou is a girl," the blue haired trainer reminded her, ignoring Mirei rolling her eyes at her. "She must have followed us to our rooms yesterday." Chiharu remembered opening the door slightly so they could get some fresh air from outside. She looked down at the angler pokemon and asked, "Are you hungry?"

The pokemon nodded her head very eagerly. The catcher took out Mirei's Poffin Case and handed a blue poffin to the pokemon. It was tough-textured and dry. Chinchou jumped up and down and opened her mouth wide, almost wide enough to swallow a pokeball. Chinchou devoured the blue poffin in one bite, but her face turned purple from the taste.

"Chinchou, bleh!" The water pokemon disliked the dry poffin. "Chinchou! Chinchou, chou?" _It's too dry! Can I have something else? _ Chinchou bounced up for attention.

"Why are you giving food to a wild pokemon?" Mirei asked as she watched Chiharu give the pokemon a pink poffin. Chinchou's expression changed to pleased when it swallowed the sweet poffin whole. The water pokemon cried with joy and jumped to Mirei with a smile on her face.

"Chinchou, chinchou!" _This is yummy!_ Sparks flew out of the angler pokemon and jolted Chiharu, who was in the middle of giving it a few berries.

"Golbat, golbat, bat, gol!" Chiharu's Golbat was out of her pokeball at the moment and shouted, _Hey, don't attack my trainer!_ The angry bat pokemon glared at the electric pokemon and flew in front of her trainer to defend her from further attacks. "Golbat, golbat?" _What was that for? _She flew in closer so that she and Chinchou were only a few inches apart.

"It's okay, Kera." Golbat's trainer told her pokemon. The electric attacks weren't too bad. They were weak enough that it was static electricity; her hair was slightly frizzled from the electricity.

"Golbat, bat!" _No, it isn't! _ Kera disagreed, still glaring at Chinchou, who was poking Mirei's shoe with a small fin. Mirei didn't look too pleased herself and was trying to ignore Chinchou.

"Chinchou!" _Hello!_ The angler pokemon greeted Mirei.

"You have a pokemon that can learn Surf now," Chiharu tried not to smile as she watched Chinchou look up to the other trainer questioningly. The angler pokemon heard Chiharu's comment and squirted out water from its mouth like a fountain. Mirei moved away from Chinchou's Water Gun as the water pokemon tried to show off its skills to the reluctant trainer.

"Hey!" Mirei complained, "You're getting me wet!" Chinchou was still using Water Gun. The angler pokemon abruptly stopped squirting water and jumped again.

"Chinchou, chou!" _Let me come with you! _ She squeaked. "Chou, ou!" _I can learn Surf! _Mirei's Nidorina looked at the water pokemon with sympathy and gently pushed the fish away from her trainer.

"Nidorina, rina." _Give her some space to breath,_ the poison pokemon advised Chinchou. "Nido, nido, rina." _I don't think she's ready yet. _

"Chinchou?" _ What does that mean? _ The pokemon didn't understand the situation. Chinchou didn't realize that it was still unwelcome by the brunette girl, who was trying to dry her clothes by fanning herself.

"I'm wet now!" Her pink shirt was soaked from Chinchou's Water Gun. Chiharu cocked her head to the side.

"It's July," she let out a sigh. "I'm sure you're happy getting cooled down from the heat." Chiharu looked at the angler fish, "Besides, at least we can get to Cianwood City."

"Since when was Chinchou my pokemon?" Mirei didn't like having Chiharu suddenly declare that the water pokemon was under her ownership now.

The blue fish pokemon was now hugging her leg. Chinchou wasn't an Octillery, but it acted like one and had its fins wrapped around her ankle, refusing to let go. Mirei was never a big fan of water pokemon as many of them had claws, fins, or stubs for limbs and had an odd texture. Having an angler fish hugging her felt foreign. Its fins felt fragile and slippery against her skin; she could feel the individual bones on its fins covered by thin layers of scales.

"Since you said that you needed a water pokemon," the catcher said dryly. "Chinchou looks very eager to be part of the team." In fact, Chinchou was scooting itself closer to Mirei with adoration in her eyes.

"There is no way," she emphasized the last two words. "This fish can carry me in the water."

"Nidorina..." _Oh boy... _Kisaki groaned and tilt her head forward towards the ground to do a slight face palm. Golbat seemed to be having the same thought and followed suit by placing one wing over her eyes.

"Chin?" _Huh? _

* * *

Route 40

"Alright, to Cianwood City!" Chiharu cheered. The blue haired trainer was in a blue one piece swimsuit that had star designs. She kept her hair in its usual braided ponytail. The trainer was almost completely underwater besides her head.

Standing at three feet and seven inches, Psyduck swam in the ocean between Olivine City and Cianwood City. Although the water pokemon was normally clumsy on land, Psyduck was a decent swimmer and moved through the body of water with more grace. The yellow duck was a little over half of his trainer's height, but he surprisingly had no issue having his trainer holding onto him in the water. Psyduck was no Sharpedo, but his swimming speed wasn't too bad. At least compared to...

"Are we there yet?" Mirei groaned. The brunette girl tied her hair into a high bun and was wearing a pink tankini with ruffles and floral designs on it. She was clinging onto her pokemon for life.

"We just left..." Chiharu watched the other girl groan again. Although their village had a few small lakes around it, Mirei had never learned how to swim properly. Her aunt and uncle signed her up for swimming lessons, but the girl was like a piece of lead. She couldn't swim and would panic in the water if she wasn't holding onto a floating device or pokemon.

Chinchou was over a feet tall and was very slowly swimming down south with Psyduck beside her. The angler pokemon was pleased to see its trainer needing it. Mirei was wearing a black life vest while hugging the round pokemon, trying not to get distracted by how deep the ocean was. She no longer seemed to care that Chinchou was a slimy water pokemon and was more concern of holding onto her. It has been an hour since they left the shores. Route 40 was not that shallow lake back in Sacred Heart Village; it was a deep ocean that was probably hundreds of feet deep. The trainer didn't want to think of how deep the body of water was if she was to somehow lose grasp of her only water pokemon. Her entire body was submerged underwater as well.

"Chinchou, chou!" _Yay, I'm back home! _ The blue pokemon bobbed her yellow antennas with happiness.

"Psyduck, psy..." _This is the first time I came to the ocean... _Shion stared at the seemingly endless ocean. They were starting to lose sight of shore. The duck pokemon hoped that Mirei and Chiharu knew where they were going and wouldn't get lost.

"Don't you just love how calm and soothing the deep blue can be?" Chiharu gushed while swimming. "Look at how it spreads out for miles on end!" There were practically stars in her eyes as the catcher continued ranting about the pokemon found in the ocean. "You can find Mantine, Magikarp, Shellder..."

"Can we stop talking about the ocean?" The brunette interrupted the happy trainer, "I knew Chouko would be too small for this." At the sound of her name, Chouko lit up her antennas and squeaked.

"Chouko?" Chiharu grinned, "I thought you said Chinchou wasn't your pokemon."

"I have to give it a name," the other girl rolled her eyes. "How else can I tell the other Chinchou apart if its name is Chinchou too?"

"Psyduck, psy, yai, duck?" _So what is like to live in the ocean?_ Shion asked the angler pokemon. He continued to tug his trainer through the deep part of the sea. The yellow duck liked living in the water. Everything was lighter and weight didn't matter because swimming didn't limit that. He could go faster and forget about his worries.

"Chinchou, chou, chinchou," Chouko chimed as she struggled to keep up with the duck. _The world looks really pretty from underwater. _

"Psyduck, duck?" _Really? What does it look like? _

"Chou, chou, chin, chinchou," _Everything sparkles and shines through the view under the sea. _The little blue fish smiled in reminiscence. Tentacools and Tentacruels would swim under the sea like lanterns floating in the sky. The jellyfish pokemon held interesting conversations, but they would usually ignore her popping in. The Staryus were always talking about the stars and how they descended from them. There was that one Mantine that would occasionally come by to tell the other pokemon about trainers on land.

"So I heard some trainers swim out here to look for pokemon battles," Chiharu said. "You plan to fight them?" She looked at the terrified girl. Did she hear her? It took Mirei a few minutes to register the question and replied back.

"I think I'll pass," she said in a flat tone. "I'm not ready for that."

"Duck." _So that's the ocean,_ Shion said in amazement.

"Chinchou, chou, chin!" _Someday,_ the electric pokemon chattered with excitement, _I'm going to become strong and evolve into a Lanturn!_ Chouko dreamed of becoming a bigger angler fish and being able to swallow her prays whole in one bite. "Chinchou, chou, chin!" _Mirei would think I'm the strongest pokemon ever and love me! _

Chinchou was already enjoying the moment of having her trainer rely on her and hugging her while she was surfing. Psyduck mumbled a few words and looked at the electric pokemon sadly. He noticed that Mirei didn't seem too enthusiastic to let the pokemon join her team. The duck pokemon wasn't there when it happened, but Chiharu's Golbat told him that it was an accident that Chinchou became a team member. Psyduck kept quiet about that and refused to mention it to Chinchou, who looked so happy. He didn't want to ruin the moment.

"What's that?" Chiharu pushed herself slightly up above the water to see two shadowy figures moving towards them.

"Swimmers?" Mirei guessed.

"Maybe," she paused. "But it looks like they're riding on pokemon." Chiharu's eyes widened, "Wait, what...?"

* * *

"Hey, do you see that?" Green poked Red's shoulder.

The two were surfing through, trying to find their way to Cianwood on the champion's Lapras. The gym leader had woken up from his nap to conveniently see two trainers traveling not too far behind them. One girl saw them and seemed rather shocked, probably from recognizing the duo, and the other looked stark white in comparison. Green was sitting on the back of the sea-monster-like pokemon's shell. Pikachu was sitting on Red's lap as they were surfing down route 40.

"Hmm?" Red looked up from the map on his Pokegear.

"Hey, can you ask Purasu to slow down a bit?" He asked.

His friend gave the Lapras a couple of pats on its head when the pokemon began to wade through the water rather than speeding by. His pokemon was similar to the loch ness monster in appearance and had four blue flippers and a hard purple shell on its back. Green waited for a couple of minutes for the two trainers to catch up before calling out, "Hey, do you need a hand?" The gym leader held out his hand in gesture of offering help with a kind smile.

"W-what?" the one in the black life jacket sputtered out. She rode on a tiny water electric hybrid pokemon known as Chinchou, who seemed to be a very eager fish. It also didn't seem to notice how terrified its trainer looked as she wrapped her arms around its football-like figure.

"What do you want from us?" The other demanded, giving him a suspicious glare. She herself was holding onto her Psyduck, who was rather curious than the usual clueless face its species normally expressed. Green noticed that Psyduck's tail had a slight glow.

"Are you heading to Cianwood City?" The gym leader asked, his voice light and polite, a habit he picked up from high school for talking to the girls, who were not Blue. He was trying to make the two feel calmer and relaxed around him, knowing that they most likely see him as a stranger. Unwittingly, he only made the Psyduck trainer more cautious.

"Ye-yes we are..." The pale trainer replied as she clung onto her pokemon even tighter.

"We are heading there too, would you like a lift?" He asked, unconsciously making his voice inviting.

"What do a bunch of college guys want with us?" The blue haired girl narrowed her eyes. The trainer was hugging her water pokemon so tightly that the duck pokemon gave a short quack for her to loosen up.

"We will just be taking a little bit of your time," he said sweetly.

"Sure!" The Chinchou trainer said when her friend answered at the same time with, "No!"

"Eh?" Green questioned as he already was pulling one of the girls up from her Chinchou. The Psyduck trainer glared at the gym leader for holding her friend so casually like they were chatting at a bar.

"Mirei, we are going!" She shouted as she pulled her friend back into the water, yanking her out of his grip. "Shion, speed up!" For a pokemon that was known for headaches, her Psyduck changed to turbo speed and torpedoed down south, the opposite direction from where the Kanto trainers were.

"Wait, what?" The gym leader asked with a bewildered expression as he watched the trainer hold her friend, who looked like she was about to die from fright, above water. "H-hey, your friend-!"

"Just because you are some hot shot gym leader and you're with the Kanto champion doesn't mean we would just let you take advantage of us!" She screamed back. The Chinchou, now rider-less, panicked in the waters for a second before chasing down her trainer.

"C-chin, chou!" _ W-wait for me! _ Red and Green lost sight of the small water pokemon in the wide open sea.

"Red, follow them," Green said, pointing to the two girls. "If we leave them, I have a bad feeling that the brunette is going to somehow manage to drown herself, with or without a pokemon!"

Without questioning his best friend's thought process, the Kanto trainer silently commanded his water-ice hybrid to chase them down. Lapras could easily out speed a Psyduck, who was holding two trainers. The brunette girl was holding onto her friend by the arm; the additional weight slowed down Psyduck. The duck pokemon started to jabber random sounds, realizing that the two men were catching up to them.

"Chi-chiharuuuu!" Mirei cried out, now clinging to her friend for dear life. "Shouldn't we accept their offer...?"

"That suspicious duo? No way!" She replied. Normally, it is Mirei who doesn't take kindly to strangers, but considering how she can't swim and is terrified of water; the trainer would gladly jump at any chance to get out of it.

"Chiharu?" Green asked himself, remembering Keigo and his family mentioning it multiple times. The realization hit him. "WAIT, YOU'RE THAT CATCHER..!"

"HOW THE HELL DO YOU KNOW ME?" She screamed. "Asahi, go!"

The psychic lilac colored pokemon flashed out of her pokeball, landing on the Psyduck's head. (Whoaaa!) She thought aloud as she nearly slipped into the ocean. (Why am I out here?)

"Psy...duck..." _Can you get off my head?_ The duck pokemon whined to the new additional weight.

"ASAHI, USE REFLECT!" Chiharu shouted, her voice shot up a couple of octaves. The sun pokemon looked up to see a rapidly approaching Lapras quickly gaining on her trainer.

"Pii!" _Go away!_ she cried out as her eyes glowed.

A transparent mirror formed right behind them. Lapras, who didn't notice it forming, ran straight into it. The sea monster met the mirror head first and smacked its head against the invisible wall and groaned. The force stopped the water pokemon dead in its tracks. Espeon formed a low horizontal mirror slightly above her head and jumped on it to avoid making Psyduck slow down his swimming.

"Shion, use Psychic to slow them down!" Psyduck's eyes glowed bright blue levitated Lapras for a brief moment and flipped the water pokemon upside down, tossing its riders into the ocean.

"Reflect?" Green pulled his head up above the moving waves and rubbed his head. He took out a pokeball, "Go, Gyarados!" A sea serpent like pokemon dived into the ocean and roared into the sky. It held an intimidating look and had violent looking eyes and an always wide open mouth showing sharp fangs.

"Shion, use Psychic to speed up!" The blue haired girl cried.

Her pokemon's eyes glowed blue again and manipulated the waves to propel itself through the waters. Green heard a cry of a few Tentacools, who had poor timing and appeared when Psyduck used its attack to get ahead of them. The jellyfish pokemon were hit by Psyduck's Psychic and were seen drifting away from the waves to recover from the attack. Before the gym leader shouted a command to his Gyarados, the ocean shone with light.

While Psyduck was swimming through the rough currents with two trainers and an Espeon leaping from mirror to mirror, the duck pokemon had changed its appearance. Psyduck has grown to the height of an average man. The duck pokemon grew claws with webbed hands and feet and a longer tail and beak. The pokemon was blue and had four spikes on its head with a red jewel on its head.

"Golduck!"_ Sorry for that! _ The blue duck apologized to the fainted Tentacools.

"You evolved!" His trainer was shocked. His trainer was hugging him around the neck and body when he evolved. Chiharu pulled Mirei out of the water to sit on the newly evolved pokemon's back. She held onto one of Golduck's spikes and turned his head slightly to the right to signal the pokemon where to swim. The speed difference was great.

"Come back here!" Green screeched out as his own water pokemon crashed into another mirror. The giant serpent like pokemon twisted its head in confusion as it nudged its head into the mirror multiple times.

_Whoa, what is this?_ It asked, as it nudged around it to find the dimensions.

(Don't touch her!) The girl's Espeon yelled over the waves. The purple feline formed another mirror and hopped on its flat surface. She lowered her head to use Psychic on them again and had several high waves crashing against the pursuers. Each wave progressively grew until it could even flip Lapras. Gyarados held on, slicing through each crash of water it met.

"Gyarados, use Waterfall!" The sea serpent twisted its body as a wall of water rose above it.

"Asahi, Reflect!" Another mirror appeared to weaken the water attack. With Waterfall being slowed down, it gave the girls a chance to swim further away before the attack was able to do much damage.

"Purasu, Surf!" Red quietly commanded, watching his friend crashing into mirror after mirror. The Viridian city gym leader's face was slightly pink from running into so many invisible mirrors. The water-ice hybrid pokemon cried its name with waves rising above it. The waves surrounded the Golduck and Espeon, forcing them to come in closer to the two Kanto trainers.

The giant tsunamis submerged the pokemon and their trainers underwater. Against a level eighty Lapras, the lower leveled Golduck and Espeon had no chance. When the water finally calmed with the victims floating back up, both pokemon had fainted; swirls twirling in their eyes. The Chinchou trainer began to panic.

"N-no," she gulped down seawater. Despite having a life jacket, the girl struggled too much for it to be much use for her. The life jacket bobbed in and out of the water aggressively from the strong currents and from the trainer's struggle to surface.

"Chinchou!" _There you are! _ The angler fish pokemon have finally caught up to her trainer. "Chinchou, chinchou?" _Are you alright?_ She poked her trainer's arm with one fin with worry.

"Mire-..!" Chiharu began, when she was rudely interrupted by a black fingerless gloved hand plucking her out of the ocean water. Another from the same person pulled Mirei out too.

"Recall your pokemon," the Kanto champion commanded, his tone quiet but ominous as the two younger trainers swallowed hard. The three pokemon were quickly flashed back into their pokeballs just as Green pulled up next to Lapras on his own water type.

"They could have drowned! What were you thinking Red?" He scolded; somewhat relieved that all the mirrors have dissipated when the psychic type fainted.

"You were taking too long," the champion stated simply.

The Kanto champion had the brunette girl sit on Lapras with him. It was clear that she wouldn't bother to escape, as it was she who was very eager to come with them in the first place. She had her arms wrapped around his waist with her head turned away from the water, as if afraid that looking at it would cause her to fall in. The other trainer however, wore a very displeased face and was forced to sit with Green instead so that the gym leader could keep an eye on her. The blue haired trainer had one hand on Gyarados' fin, but the other hand was constantly hovering over her bag.

"What do you want?" The blue haired girl asked boldly, ignoring the glare from the Kanto champion.

"Your friend looked like she was going to pass out and then drown," Red frowned at the angry trainer.

"Haven't you heard of don't talk to strangers?" She asked sarcastically.

"What a brat..." Green groaned. "We were heading to Cianwood City to go find you two, a favor from both your family and the Ecruteak gym leader." They were looking for a couple of high school girls. He didn't think it would be this complicated, or annoying... The gym leader was still rubbing his forehead from the pain of being slammed into Espeon's status moves.

"So my mom hired another person to drag us back home," the blue haired girl looked bored. Mirei was half listening to the conversation and seemed all too relieved that she was on Lapras' back.

"No, she said that she would let you go this time," the champion answered as he patted his Lapras to continue towards the island.

The red-eyed champion caught the trainers' reactions. The blue haired girl's slowly eyes widened. Her eyes and mouth opened slightly before closing them shut. He watched her lips move as if to say, "No way..." The other girl looked happy from the news, but was too distracted by the passing waves to be entirely pleased. Despite riding on a relatively large pokemon, she still got nauseous from Lapras surfing through the rippling water. Pikachu was sitting on Mirei's lap as an attempt to calm down the brunette with little effort. Mirei was stroking the electric rat's back since it landed on her lap. All of the trainers smelled like salt and seaweed from being dumped into the ocean repeatedly.

"And for the record... How the hell do you at all look like your mom..?" The Viridian gym leader asked, his voice incredulous.

"What?" Chiharu said confused.

"She said you look just like her," Green repeated the woman's words, feeling a little stupid for ever bringing up the topic.

The catcher rolled her eyes, "We apparently share the same shape of eyes."

"T-thanks for helping us," the brunette girl chattered from the cold sea wind.

"You were chasing us like criminals," Chiharu said. "You want something from us. This isn't just about my family, is it?" The catcher frowned at the two older men. If they were really going after them to return them back to their family, they wouldn't be so urgent about it. After all, children going missing from their homes to go on a pokemon journey weren't unusual at all.

"Well," he scratched the back of his head, trying to think up a way to put the things he knew together. "Let's start with Matsuba's reason... Two days ago, apparently after you left the town, because we couldn't find you anywhere, Matsuba was attacked."

"Wait, what?" Mirei finally snapped her head up, somewhat succeeding in ignoring the rocking motion of surfing.

"Attacked?" Chiharu looked baffled, "What happened to him?" She had a wild expression.

"Shortly after you left, and his trainers and referee stepped out, another trainer entered to challenge him," he explained. "Matsuba turned his back only to fetch the referee, and then he was greeted by a blast of fire. His right shoulder, back, and chest had suffered third degree burns."

"Why would we want to attack a gym leader?" Mirei asked. "Our pokemon are too weak! You just defeated them!"

"Matsuba has his personal team," Chiharu backed her up. "Even if we were to try something on him, his personal team would knock us out before we even get close to him."

Many gym leaders had two or more teams. One set was normally used for beginner trainers who go to defeat the eight gyms in a specific order to challenge the Elite Four. The other set, their 'personal team' is the team gym leaders use outside of gym matches or against strong trainers who have already completed the gym challenge. Their personal teams are usually stronger than their gym teams as all gym leaders have completed the gym challenge themselves at one point in time.

"He didn't say that you attacked him," Red interrupted their train of thoughts. "He saw who attacked him."

"A steam punk dressed teenager, who has a legendary pokemon, attacked him," Green said, his tone serious and stern. "We just received word from our friends that they met a trainer who matched this guy's descriptions, all the way in New Bark Town."

"How is that related to us?" Mirei chattered in between her teeth. The Kanto champion was unsure of how to react to a teenage girl clinging onto him so tightly. It was worse than being hugged by an Octillery with Pokerus. Poor Pikachu was squished in between the two.

"Matsuba told you the prophecy, that's reason number one." The gym leader answered for his friend. "Two, we were told that you were a catcher, a legendary one at that. Who do you have in your possession?"

"Wait, are you accusing me of capturing legendary pokemon?" Chiharu's eyes went big and round. "How the hell can I catch one? They would murder my team before I can even attempt to stun it!"

"But even your grandfather said-"

"Why would I even want to catch one?" She ignored Green's argument and continued on, "Catching a legendary would destroy the balance as we know it because having too many legendaries in one place would bring too much tension between humans and pokemon. Governments would abuse their power with fear and wars would start!" She seemed to have forgotten that she was on a Gyarados and was now talking very animatedly with hand gestures and a very expressive face.

"Uh, Green," Red tried to warn his friend. He heard the girl behind him groan.

"Even if that didn't happen!" Chiharu shrilled, "Think about the environment! If a Groudon was under someone's ownership, it could cause volcanic eruptions in Sinnoh! That would kill many natural habitats because Sinnoh is a cold region! Or what if Kyogre appeared in Unova and flooded half of the region? Thousands of pokemon would die and humans could die from the extreme weather!" She spat out with a fierce look on her face at the reluctant men who were forced to listen to all of this with her screaming in their ears.

"... Does this ranting thing run in your family?" The Kanto trainer asked, though his question went unheard. Mirei cringed at the mention of the 'environment'. He noticed that as the catcher rambled on, she was choking on her tears, but she quickly rubbed her hand against her eyes to get rid of them.

"Didn't you learn that the capital of Johto was destroyed as a result of trying to gather all of the legendary pokemon? I'm pretty damn sure that it's in history books from grades four to twelve in schools!"

"OKAY, SHUT UP I THINK WE GOT THE POINT." Green shrieked, which failed to stopped her verbal rampage.

Chiharu was still talking, "You think I caught them? Here!" The blue haired trainer took out her blue Pokegear and shoved it in Green's face. The device was opened to the share function, listing all of the pokemon the trainer had caught and had boxed in her PC. "Here's the evidence! Look at it!"

"Whoa... That is a really long list..." Green stared at the little digital screen, cross-eyed, as it just kept scrolling and scrolling down at the push of a button.

"Does it look like I can, or would for that matter, catch them now?" she demanded at the bewildered trainer. When he didn't answer right away, the catcher's vein nearly burst as she shoved him off the Gyarados. He flopped messily into the water with a loud splash.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry that I suspected you for hunting legendaries," Green called out, but his voice was still very small. The gym leader treaded in the water idly while apologizing to the catcher. He felt Red's eyes staring down at him again. Was it so shocking for him to apologize to anyone? That thought made the gym leader feel uncomfortable. "I'm sorry that I accused you, and chased you down on this route, and that apparently, I made you feel like we were trying to take advantage of you." He spoke quickly, watching Chiharu's expressions. "Now, can I finally get back on my own pokemon?"

"It's your pokemon, why are you asking me?" She snapped.

The gym leader hesitantly swam to his pokemon and used Gyarados' body to push himself back up and climbed onto the water pokemon's back. Chiharu tossed her head and refused to look at the trainer as he sighed and motioned to his pokemon to continue down the long, long water route.

"We're back to square one," He said quietly after several minutes of silence. "You two seem to know more about that village and about that girl's disappearance."

"Wait!" Mirei snapped her head towards the trainer. "How do you know about Satsuki? We didn't mention it, and Chiharu's mom wouldn't mention it if she didn't have to either!"

"We ran into her. She used Keigo as a shield to get away," Red said. "Chiharu's mom told us the story."

"You what?" the brunette's eyes grew wide. Their friend, their childhood friend. The girl that went missing, appeared almost right after they left the village? It was cruel irony at its finest.

"But you seemed to have seen more than the adults did," the gym leader finished. "Let's hear your side of the story."

"SHE USED MY BABY BROTHER AS A SHIELD?" Chiharu's voice snapped up several octaves. The image of her brother, the stupid fool, always so reckless, was being threatened by her friend? "Not only did she completely disregard me, she even used my baby brother as a hostage to run away? WHAT THE HELL IS SHE DOING?"

"She would never do that!" Mirei yelled at the girl and turned to Red and Green, "You're lying!" She was sobbing, "You're just saying that to make us talk and make her look bad!"

"She didn't hurt Keigo in anyway," Green tried to explain quickly. "She went to her house to grab her Mystic water, and then she tried to run when Red and I confronted her. Then Keigo was in her way, doing some stupid pose, only to get caught as a hostage. But he confirmed that it was her, and she didn't do anything beyond dragging him around, I swear!"

"She always had that with her when we were kids," Mirei said quietly. She always wore it around her left wrist whenever they went out to play.

"That kid was gone for years," Chiharu mumbled.

"What kid?" Red demanded.

"It doesn't matter," the blue haired trainer shook her head. "He left when we were really little, I don't even remember much of him now. As you were saying earlier, your friends ran into a trainer with a legendary pokemon? Did this person attack Matsuba too?"

"We have reason to believe so," Red answered. "What did he say about the trainer again?"

"Umm, he had Entei..." Green recollected. "The steam punk escaped on it after realizing that Silver is a highly skilled trainer... He had a Ralts and an Eevee." Both were rare pokemon, although not as rare as legendaries, of course. With legendary pokemon like Entei, it was no longer shocking to know that someone had an Eevee and a Ralts on their team at low levels.

"An Eevee?" The brunette girl looked up in interest.

"What's its name? Do you know?" Chiharu's eyes narrowed.

"If I remember correctly, it was English... What was it, Elmer? Edgar?"

"Elliot." Red corrected his friend. "They said the Eevee's name was Elliot."

"Okay," Chiharu was oddly calm.

"Hmm...? Do you know something about this Eevee?" The gym leader asked, noticing the girl's sudden change in emotion.

"We'll tell you what happened." The trainer crossed her arms with an odd expression. She had switched from anger to fear to calm in the last several minutes, which was alarming to the gym leader, who was not used to the rapidly changing emotions. It was worse than talking to Blue on certain days.

"It began like this..."

* * *

**Author's Notes:** We are sorry... Many people really, really don't like cliffhangers. (The author who created Satsuki especially) However, the chapter would have been three times longer with the next section. You have to wait a week before finding out what happens next. Question of the Chapter: Who is your least favorite character so far, and why? Remember to R&R!

* * *

"**RainSonata":** After 10 chapters, we finally get to see Chiharu get mad. Well, legitly mad, as in 'pissed off' and flip a person. Literally. I hate typing in the summer. I hate hot weather, SO MUCH. I wish fall would come already... BTW, check out my pokemon one-shot fanfic called "For the Love of Food!" under my RainSonata account. I've been getting into a fanfiction mood lately and have been getting so many ideas for different fanfics and personal projects. My one-shots and non-collaborative projects will be posted under my personal account.

**"LunarAbyss":** … I have nothing to say, other than AGAIN. NO SCREEN TIME FOR SATSUKI. Hahaha... Funny, cause she's supposed to be a super important character the first original character created in this story. Nah, she's not that egotistic, hahaha. She'll be showing up much more soon. Oh so very soon... Mwahahahahahaha.


	13. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

* * *

**Japanese Names:**

Professor Ookido = Professor Oak

* * *

**Disclaimer:** We don't own pokemon.

* * *

Eight Years Ago

"Satsuki!" Chiharu yelled out as she wandered alone through the dense trees of Ilex Forest. She was still within her village's radius, but wandering alone when one cannot see the sunlight pierce through the leaves at noon does frighten her.

"Is that you, Chiharu?" A girl's voice asked. The blue haired child cautiously followed the noise when suddenly something fell from a tree branch overhead.

"EEP!" she screamed, causing a few Murkrows to skitter out into the air.

"Relax Chiharu, it's me," the owner's voice smirked as she hung upside down from the thicker branches. Her long black hair nearly reached the ground as her shirt threatened to fall though the young girl barely noticed. "You get startled too easily." She snickered with a wide grin on her face

"Let's go," the eight year old child hugged her blue backpack. "We're going to miss the bus..." Her hair was tied into braids with a visible expression of worry.

"Nah, not today," Satsuki snorted as she flipped right side up before landing softly on the balls of her feet. "Don't wanna go today..."

She noticed that the other girl was flinching at a thought, probably scared of getting yelled at by the teacher again. After getting a letter home from the teacher for missing class, the blue haired girl constantly studied to avoid getting in trouble so she could go home to listen to the radio. Chiharu discovered a new radio show hosted by a pokemon professor and that DJ broadcaster and would constantly talk about it. She would spend hours listening to facts and trivia about each pokemon and then go into the forest herself with her friends to see if they are true.

"Is something wrong?" Chiharu's eyes widen. She was so easy to read. Like an open book. It was clear that many thoughts were going through her and that she was unsure of what to say. Many thoughts that an eight year old shouldn't have to worry about.

"Not at all, I just feel like the teacher's lectures today are going to be super boring."

"What about that girl who lives near the Pokemart?" She said, "Didn't you promise to show her around the school and forest?"

The other girl had lived in the village her whole life, but she was one of the children who were homeschooled until her mom had to work outside the village and chose to avoid the forest and followed the adults' warnings. She had recently transferred to an elementary school in Goldenrod City due to her guardians' new jobs in the big city. Satsuki and Chiharu were the only students from the village the girl recognized in her new school.

"Sorry Chiharu, can you go and show her around for me?" Satsuki clapped her hands together and bowed apologetically. A blue hallowed raindrop shaped gem hung from her wrists, the water shook when she snapped her hands up.

"No one else knows the pokemon better than you!" Chiharu cried, "They never attack you and you always know what they want to say!"

"There are a ton of things I need to do today. I promised her this on a bad day, I feel really bad, but I can't miss this... So, pretty please? With a berry on top?" The dark haired girl pleaded with big hazel eyes.

"I guess I can..." Chiharu mumbled and looked at the small path leading west of the village, where the nearest bus stop for Goldenrod was there.

"Thank you Chiharu! I owe you alright?"

"Pinky swear that you won't make another bad promise to her?" The brown eyed girl held out her small right pinky.

"Yeah, pinky promise!" Satsuki smiled as the two locked fingers for a brief moment. "Gotta run!" she yelled out as she ran deeper into the forest.

"I hate walking in the forest alone..." Chiharu mumbled and turned the opposite direction to walk to the bus stop.

* * *

"What do you think of the forest?" Chiharu asked as she led the other girl through the dense forest filled with pokemon. "They normally don't attack you unless you bother them!"

"It's not as scary as they said," the brunette girl said. "I wish someone told me about this earlier."

Being homeschooled at a young age, Mirei was not allowed to go outside beyond the village's boundaries while the other villager children were always playing in the forest. She only knew the other children from seeing them walk to school in the morning or during the weekends or holidays when school was out. She hated being cooped up in the house but stayed in there because she was told that it was dangerous outside of the village. Her closest friends were the elderly, who always invited her for tea while the other children were at school.

"What happened to Satsuki?" Mirei asked, "I thought she was going to show me around."

"She couldn't make it," the other girl said. "She told me to tell you that she is sorry and that she'll show you the deeper parts of the forest next time."

"Oh," Mirei said with disappointment. She was on her way back from Mrs. Yoshida's house for a small birthday lunch when she saw Satsuki sneak into the forest.

"Did you see the Elite Four fight today?" The blue haired girl asked, "The new champion is an eleven year old guy!" Chiharu continued, "He had a strong Pikachu and it was so cute! It looked like they've been together since forever! His Eevee looks so happy with him. I wonder why he didn't evolve it yet." There were stars in her eyes as she gushed on about the trainer's other pokemon.

"Is that impressive..?" She questioned, really clueless about the outside world.

"It's amazing! I mean, how many kids can say they defeated the Elite Four? He is the youngest ever!" She babbled on. "Most kids don't even finish getting all eight badges after a year!" She nodded, "It takes a long time to get to each city and the school only gives us three months for break!"

"Are you going to go after the Elite Four someday?" Mirei asked her new friend.

"Me?" Chiharu pointed at herself, "Nah, I want to be a pokemon professor just like Professor Ookido! You?"

"I just want to get pokemon and be friends with them," the brunette girl smiled. "We can make poffins together and we can travel the world and just have fun!"

* * *

"Mom is letting us pick out some Eevees today," Chiharu welcomed the brunette in cheerfully. She held her front door wide open to let Mirei in. She led the girl through the short hallway and into the living room where the newly born pokemon were. "She said it's lucky that they had another litter this year."

"Thank you for letting me come and pick one Mrs. Yukiko," she bowed to her friend's mom. Although Chiharu and Satsuki were her first friends who were from her age group, Mirei was comfortable talking to older people and knew how to act around them.

"Oh, it's alright. Go ahead and play with them for a bit!" The red-haired young woman beamed at the politeness of her child's friend.

Satsuki was flat on her belly, staring at the smallest one in the litter. The tiny Eevee had his ears pulled back, sat still, and stared at the ground, occasionally looking up only to see the girl still watching him. His older siblings were wrestling around on the rug. Her black hair was neatly tied back, though her bangs still messily covered and framed her face.

The Eevees were a few weeks old now, but they still played close to their mother, an ice type pokemon called Glaceon. The blue pokemon gazed at her litter with loving eyes with a male Houndoom lying next to her. Houndoom was a tall black dog pokemon with horns on his head and a tail shaped like an arrow. The fire pokemon didn't seem to mind his children bumping into him when they were practicing their Shadow Ball attack. They were young, but they were already attempting to imitate their father's signature move.

"Hi Satsuki!" Mirei said, though the other girl didn't seem to hear. She kept her gaze at the tiny Eevee, waiting for something.

"Sorry, she gets like that sometimes," Chiharu explained. She leaned in to whisper into Mirei's ear, "I think she is trying to get him to talk. Mom says people can't talk to pokemon, but I think Satsuki can."

"Talking?" The brunette girl tilted her head; she had her eyes on the biggest Eevee. The normal type pokemon was busy fighting with the other Eevee, but was sorely losing. Eevee flopped on the floor with a tired look on his face.

"She is friends with all the pokemon in the forest; none of them attack her at all!"

"Vee..." The little normal type whined. The hazel eyed girl perked up as a huge grin formed on her face.

"Hello there! So you do talk! How are you today?" She said with an excited voice.

The pokemon scoot back a little, trying to shy away. If he could, he would have turned invisible as he scrambled to hide behind his dad's back. The fire pokemon nudged his son forward with his snout. Houndoom gave the baby pokemon a short bark and a nod with Eevee looking at the girl with uncertainty. Eevee's mother cheerfully cried out something.

"Aw, I don't bite," she pouted, listening to the Eevee with his parents.

"I want that one," Mirei said quietly. She separated the slightly chubby Eevee away from the one that won the wrestle. She hugged the normal type pokemon. While the youngest Eevee was shy, this one didn't mind being hugged by a stranger and licked the girl on the cheek. His big round eyes stared at Mirei's red-brown eyes with a smile.

Chiharu was hugging the other Eevee, who was calmly sitting on her lap with a small smirk for its victory against its brother. The Eevee was the middle child of the litter and was also the greediest - the one that would eat the most. Since the litter lived in Chiharu's house, they were already used to the girl's presence. The middle Eevee was fond of Chiharu and usually came to her, expecting an extra treat from the eight year old girl. There was a strange gleam in that particular Eevee where it looked like it was always judging you. It got up and pounced on its youngest brother, who yelped in surprise and wriggled his way out. He slid behind Satsuki, who was the farthest person from his sibling at the time.

"It's alright, she is only playing with you," the young girl patted the runt on his head.

"Um, Satsuki, mom said they are all boys," Chiharu corrected.

"Hmm? No, that one is a girl..." She pointed to the one who sat on the blue haired girl's lap earlier.

"A girl?" The girl said, "Huh...this whole time, my family thought Asahi was a boy."

"You named her already?"

"We can't call all of them Eevee," she said. "If I was to call this one Eevee, all three of them would come to me."

"Does this little guy have a name yet?" Satsuki asked, picking up the tiny normal type. He squirmed in her hands until she held him close to her chest in a soft hug.

"No," Chiharu shook her head. "Asahi is the only one with a nickname." Her mom told her to leave the rest of the litter unnamed in case the girls had a different name in mind for their new pokemon. Asahi was named because of her early attachment to Chiharu.

"Okay~ I'm going to call you Elliot! I read that name from a book, and I thought it was adorable!" She laughed as the Eevee looked up at her curiously.

"Then this one is Leo!" Mirei smiled as the Eevee gave her another lick to the face.

* * *

Five Years Ago From Present Time

"She is always bringing strangers here..." Mirei openly complained. The eleven year old girl was absentmindedly watering the Oran Berry she had planted last week.

It was the holidays and she and Chiharu were outside growing some berries. The brunette girl had found a new hobby in planting berries. It was fascinating to watch the small seeds grow into tall healthy plants. Her pokemon loved eating the berries from its branches and they enjoyed helping their trainer plant the seeds. The berries could even be used for poffins and as ingredients for some dishes suited for humans and pokemon alike.

"Well, the ghost pokemon openly attack non-villagers now... I wonder why they started doing it though; usually Zoroark just leads them away from here using its illusions." Chiharu replied. She overheard her grandpa the other day saying something about the pokemon pulling pranks ever since Satsuki started lingering at the forest borders.

"She doesn't have to though," the brunette pouted. "She is always in that forest. I see her leave in the middle of the night to go wander in there. I always lose sight of her, so I never found out where she goes." She didn't notice that the berry pot was overflowing with water.

"What do you think of the guy?" Chiharu asked quietly, "That one man she brought in yesterday? I think he's a little creepy."

The man looked like he was in his thirties, wore a shirt and long trousers with a huge backpack on his back. He talked with a horribly faked accent of what was supposed to be from Johto, but sounded more like the cry of a Stantler being butchered. The weird look he kept giving to their friend...it was eerie. Like he was planning to eat her. He claimed that he only had one pokemon, but she saw a few pokeballs hanging from his belt when she walked by him this morning.

"Yeah, and he keeps trying to talk to Satsuki whenever he can... Isn't that called being interested in her? I was told that it is not right for someone much older than you to be very interested in you." Mirei recited what her mom warned her about regarding strangers and certain adults.

Her Eevee was asleep in her arms and her Kadabra asleep next to her. She tried to get the psychic pokemon to finish his first pokemon battle today, but the pokemon shrunk away and used Teleport to escape the battle. Kadabra was always snoozing and didn't talk much, but he did smile a lot to his trainer when she mentioned food and planting berries.

"I think you are thinking of the wrong form of 'interested,' Mirei." The blue haired girl smirked. Her Growlithe was lying on the soft grass, enjoying a short nap under the warming sun. The fire pokemon seemed to gravitate towards the sun.

"What is that supposed to mean?" The brunette girl looked confused.

"Sorry I'm late guys!" Satsuki ran towards the two. The small Eevee curled up inside her hood. She had to explain multiple times to different people that the little guy hated being in a pokeball, though each looked at her with an odd expression. "Mr. Tanaka wanted to ask me a few more questions about the forest."

"I don't know about him Satsuki," Chiharu mumbled. "He seems a little odd to me. Has he asked about anything else?"

"Just what pokemon appear here and about the shrine we like to play at," she replied a little too quickly.

The blue haired girl was about to say something when Mirei whined, "What, you told him about our hideout?" The shrine was avoided by the villagers due to it being far away from the main path and that it attracted wild pokemon. The shrine was abandoned before the village was found.

"It's pretty open to be a hideout!" She laughed. "Super pretty too, I don't blame him for being curious, I did find him there."

"You never told this much information to the other travelers," Chiharu said while looking down at her Growlithe. The fire dog rolled on the floor and stretched under the sunlight.

She shrugged. "They never asked. Oh, and I met an Ariados today! It was pretty cool!"

* * *

Later that Night

"Satsuki, is there something wrong?" Yukiko asked, noticing that the girl was poking at her food rather than eating it. "Do you not like it?"

"It's delicious," she answered immediately. "It's just..." She dropped her chopsticks and set them carefully on the bowl of rice. The girl carefully only ate the vegetables and some of the rice; she refused to touch the meat.

"Hmm?" The adult looked at the youngster with worry.

"I need to make sure Keigo finished his homework today," Chiharu's dad stood up from the table. "His teacher called again about his grades." He shared the same look of concern as his wife. His dark blue hair was cut into a short buzz; he was still wearing the suit he wore from work. He was already home when Satsuki came over for dinner.

"So if the two circles overlap, that means they are red and green," Chiharu was trying to explain the homework to her younger brother in the living room. "You get it?"

"No," Keigo had a prominent scowl. The eight year old boy was displeased of having the teacher call home.

"Don't worry! It's nothing," Satsuki smiled as she got out of her chair and grabbed her bag. "I just remembered that I forgot to do something at my house! I'll see you later. Good night!"

"Good night Satsuki, have a safe walk home!" The redhead smiled as the child ran off. She sighed to herself and said out loud, "She is so responsible for a ten year old..." Her Glaceon looked up at her trainer with worry. The ice type pokemon wailed into the humid summer night.

* * *

Late that Night

A scream echoed from the denser part of the forest, though the sound only barely reached the village. More specifically, through the window of a young catcher. Chiharu groggily sat up, rubbing her eyes.

"Was that Satsuki?" she asked herself as she stared out her window. Her unfocused eyes made out what looked like a bright red glow deep in the forest, where the shrine would be. Her mind snapped to overdrive. "No," she whispered. The blue haired trainer grabbed her belt with pokeballs and opened her window. After looking back and forth, she jumped out of the window as quietly as she could and ran towards the direction where Mirei's house was.

"Mirei, Mirei! Wake up!" She lightly knocked at her friend's window. The curtains swung open to reveal that she was already fully dressed and geared up. Chiharu felt odd for still being in her pajamas. She ran to the brunette girl's house barefoot with only her pokemon with her.

"I heard it, Chiharu..." Her eyes were wide with worry. "Do you think it's..?"

"I saw something that looked like a fire from my window, we gotta hurry!" She took out a red capsule, "Shion, go!" The yellow duck popped out of the pokeball with a tired face.

"Psy...duck?" Psyduck wiped its eyes with its paws in confusion. It waved its arms and cried, "Psy, yai, psy!" The water pokemon looked uncertain of the fire his trainer was pointing at.

"We need to save Satsuki!" Chiharu cried, "I know you're not that fast, but I think we can make it on time!"

"Kazama, Teleport to the shrine!" Mirei already had the psychic pokemon outside of its pokeball when Chiharu came over. The brown pokemon opened its eyes wide and made the two girls glow a blue aura along with it. With the wave of a finger, energy flashed under the two trainers with the girls disappearing with Kadabra.

When they reached the shrine clearing, everything but the building itself was covered in flames. Large paw prints had burnt itself into the ground, and very different than an Arcanine's. The fire greedily consumed the plant life around the clearing, threatening to spread. Its light grew and shrunk according to its fuel, making the already ominous night shadows dance a macabre dance like the end was near. The already crumbling stone figures had pieces threatening to fall off. Mirei saw many wild pokemon running the opposite direction of their destination, looking for shelter.

A voice not too far choked and coughed out ashes. Violent and raspy gasps for air as if the person had been punched or kicked in the rib cage or throat. Mirei snapped to the sound, recognizing it.

"Satsuki! Satsuki, where are you?" She cried out, covering her mouth with a bit of her jacket to prevent her from inhaling too much smoke. The smoke gently clouded over the remnants of the plant life that was left. Ember flickered around them. Chiharu's Psyduck used Water Gun and sprayed a thin stream of water at the flames, leaving steam evaporating with the smoke.

"Sa-" Chiharu gasped.

Big lilac eyes suddenly jumped at the girl with pearl white fangs and horn pointing at her. Its face was zoomed in to her face, only a few inches away from touching her. A large arachnid like pokemon teetered out from a large tree, using its six legs to stick to the side of the trunk. Three legs at a time took a step down as the others followed and soon the large bug pokemon stood in front of the two girls like any normal encounter.

"Hey, is that the Ariados Satsuki met earlier today?" Chiharu asked.

"I think so, can you help us find her?" Mirei asked desperately to the wild pokemon.

Without warning, the arachnid leaped behind them, hissing and baring its large fangs with drops of venom dripping down it. With one swift movement, the spider lunged, forcing the brunette to skip backwards. A bit of the flames licked her jacket, igniting it.

"Crap!" She cried out as she flopped onto the dry ground and began to roll away from her attacker. The fire left her clothing and began to devour the dying grass as a new source of fuel. The fire surrounded them almost entirely, the only thing still standing is the shrine itself. The burning red lights sucked up most of the oxygen, making it harder for the two girls to breath and the bug pokemon seemed to not notice.

Chiharu tried to step away from the spider pokemon, but her legs could not move. She took out her pokeball to call out one of her pokemon, but the pokemon was faster. "Shadow Sneak," the blue haired girl moved her lips. Her voice was barely audible for Mirei to hear. The brunette girl looked at where Chiharu's eyes were and saw that an Ariados' dark shadow was connecting to Chiharu's.

"Chiharu!" Mirei shrieked and took out her pokemon, "Kisaki, Scratch!" The female Nidoran charged at the giant bug pokemon with her claws out. The poison pin pokemon attacked Ariados, but the pokemon easily tossed her aside with only a single leg and continued going after Chiharu.

Ariados' long limbs extended and bind the girl close to its body. Despite its appearance, Ariados had a tough exoskeleton body. Being bind to the pokemon felt like being tied to a boulder... If it was normal for boulders to have multiple limbs with poisonous fangs and a horn. The giant arachnid pokemon hissed and continued to wrap the girl. Chiharu cried from the tight binding of Constrict and cried out Mirei's name. The blue haired girl's arms were unable to move under Ariados' attack. Her Psyduck glared at the bug pokemon and had his eyes glowing blue. The yellow duck used Confusion on Ariados, causing the bug pokemon to release the girl. Chiharu staggered away from the spider pokemon and called out her pokemon.

"Helios, Ember!" Chiharu's Growlithe opened his mouth wide with flames flying out. Ariados dodged the small fire attack and opened its mouth to use Bug Bite, aiming for the Growlithe's trainer. The fire dog ran in front of Chiharu and used Ember on Ariados when the spider was a few feet away. Too late to react, Ariados took the fire attack in the face and fell on the floor.

"Chiharu!" She was so close to getting bitten by the poisonous spider. Mirei whimpered at the fiery hell they were in right now. Her Kadabra opened his eyes for once with a look of fear on his face. The brunette girl had to tap her pokemon on the shoulder to remind him that there was nowhere to run. Not when Satsuki was nowhere to be found.

"Mirei, now!" The girl shrieked.

Mirei numbly nodded and threw a Great Ball at the spider pokemon. The catching capsule had a blue top with red marks on the sides. The Great Ball hit the spider pokemon on the head. As the pokeball hit Ariados on the head, something odd happened. The moment the Great Ball came into contact with the spider pokemon, sparks instantly flew out of the pokeball with red light flashing out from the capsule. Ariados hissed at the two girls with the broken pokeball tossed aside on the floor with sparks still sizzling out.

"I-it's not working!" Mirei cried, "It's not working!" Her Kadabra frowned and tried to comfort his trainer with a hug. "Leo, don't touch it!" Her voice went off a few octaves at the Eevee, who was growling at the spider pokemon.

"Try again!" Chiharu said as she threw an Ultra Ball at the pokemon. The black pokeball bounced on Ariados, but broke once it came into contact with the bug pokemon. Growlithe and Psyduck attacked the aggressive arachnid with Confusion and Ember. They leaped on the spider pokemon in attempt of slowing down Ariados' slow march against the two preteens.

Mirei's Eevee ignored his trainer's warning and formed dark energy in front of himself to hurl it towards the poison type bug. Ariados' eyes widened and looked at its attacker. The bug pokemon stampeded at the Eevee, its long sharp legs moved its fat striped body across the burning forest. The bug pokemon bore its fangs at Eevee and bit the normal type by the side. Eevee instantly fainted from the bug attack and collapsed. Green goo coated the Eevee's body.

"Leo!" Eevee's trainer sobbed and ran to the normal type pokemon. She scooped up the fainted pokemon and cradled him in her arms, "Leo! Are you alright?"

"Mirei, look out!" Chiharu jumped in front of the crying girl to push her away from the angered spider.

"What are you...?"

"Help!" Chiharu cried, "Somebody help us! We're being atta-" Her voice was instantly muffled by Ariados. The spider pokemon jumped on her into a crouching stance. It used its silk to tape her mouth shut.

Ariados shot out silk from its mouth. The catcher muffled a yell from the attack as the spider skillfully wrapped Chiharu's body entirely in silk. She felt the individual hairs on the Ariados' legs as they moved around her body. The spider used its sticky legs to weave the steel strong and water resistance silk around the catcher. She struggled and tried to wiggle free from the silk's binding, but it was no use. Chiharu saw the bug pokemon's face up close and froze when it looked at her like she was dinner. She saw all of its fangs and knew what spiders ate.

"Leave Chiharu alone!" Mirei took out a full bag of pokeballs and started tossing them at the bug pokemon, ignoring that it was impossible to catch a fully evolved pokemon when her team was still low leveled. Net Balls, Great Balls, Ultra Balls, and many other variety of catching capsules flew at the spider pokemon. Mirei and Chiharu's pokemon attacked the Ariados in union with their strongest attacks as Ariados crawled about in attempt to avoid the pokeballs. Sparks flew all over the place from the pokeballs that failed to catch Ariados. All of the catching capsules fell to the floor malfunctioned.

Ariados used Shadow Sneak on Mirei's female Nidoran and made the small pokemon squeal as its health points deduct to zero. Psyduck and Growlithe combined Confusion and Ember on Ariados, but the spider pokemon hurled a log at them. Growlithe whined from being hit by the damp wood. The fire dog stood back up and howled at the moon; the moon beam shone on the orange dog and restored his health. While the fire pokemon was healing with Morning Sun, Ariados tried to attack the dog with Bug Bite, but it caused Psyduck, who tried to stop it from hurting his friend, to faint instead.

"Eevee!" Asahi cried.

The female Eevee wanted to reunite with her trainer and bear her teeth at Ariados. The normal pokemon kicked sand into the spider's face and used Shadow Ball on it. Ariados shrilled from the ghost attack and extended its limbs to bind Eevee as well. The female pokemon whimpered at the bug pokemon. Ariados opened its mouth and bit the Eevee with Bug Bite, making her become unconscious.

The brunette girl had tears flowing down her cheeks. She couldn't catch the pokemon. It was a wild pokemon. Satsuki said she befriended it yesterday. Why was it attacking them? Why didn't the pokeballs even wobble? The pokeballs didn't even turn Ariados into energy. Could it be that this Ariados belonged to someone else? Mirei stared at the crouching spider pokemon, who was guarding Chiharu with its mandible bent over.

"No," Mirei whispered. "NO!"

She recalled back the pokemon who have fainted and ran to Chiharu. The girl undauntedly charged head first into Ariados with her Kadabra, who focused and released balls of energy at the spider. Kadabra's Hidden Power shot into the spider's eye and made it fall backwards onto its back. Chiharu's Growlithe ran over to his trainer and bit into the silk, but only to have the sticky substance foam in his mouth. The fire dog barked at the unwelcomed taste and saw that he was unable to free his trainer.

"Chiharu, are you okay?" Mirei frantically went over to her friend, who was lying still with her eyes shut tight. The blue haired girl moaned, refusing to open her eyes. She didn't respond to Mirei's words. The brunette trainer called out, "Kazama, we need to go back home!"

Mirei glanced at the Ariados, who was still rolling on the floor with its legs sticking up towards the sky. The only sound she could hear was Chiharu's soft muffles and her own heartbeat, pounding against her rib cage. She turned to her Kadabra to ask him why he was hesitating when something hit her on the side of her head. The small girl fell on her side with the broken pokeballs and her friend nearby. Her knees felt weak and her vision was hazy.

"Stupid," she heard someone spit out nearby.

In the haze, she saw the bug type pokemon flash into its capsule as someone stood before them. A tall slim figure of a child's, eyes wide in shock and horror, the flames reflected a violent crimson color in the irises. The person opened her mouth to let out a desperate scream as she lost consciousness.

* * *

Goldenrod Hospital

"The sticky substance seemed to be the silk from an arachnid pokemon, possibly an Ariados from the strength of it." A calm professional voice floated in the air, "Very few material can successfully bind a human as well as survive a multitude of ways to remove it. In the end, we had to use a fire move to burn off some of the strands before we were able to release your daughter. The only pokemon capable of using Spider Web are from the Spinarak family and from a pokemon of a new region."

"Where am I?" The patient groggily said out of the blue. She sat up with a dazed look, "I'm not...dead?" She opened her eyes to see a tall man, who she guessed to be the doctor, and a few figures sitting by her bed.

"Honey, why would you say that?" Yukiko asked, with her eyes wide with worry. She sat at the side of the bed, her hand holding her daughter's. The doctor stood nearby the door on the opposite side of the bed.

"It was going to bite me," Chiharu said quietly.

It still had blood, green ooze, dripping down its body when it attacked her. It smelled of burning wood and flesh. She looked down at her small thin arms, which had scars and bruises from the rough handling of the spider pokemon and the occasional burns from the fire. Its sharp legs pierced through her skin. The nurses put layers of bandages on her arms, but she could see the blood soaking through.

"You're alright honey, we heard Mirei scream-"

"But, Mirei didn't scream..." Chiharu recalled.

"Honey, of course she did, how else were we able to...find you?" Her mom choked back tears. Her tone dropped, scolding, "What were you doing out in the woods at the middle of the night? In the middle of a fire no less?"

"Do you remember what happened?" Chiharu's dad asked.

"Where's Keigo?" The patient looked around for her little brother.

"He is in the lobby with grandpa, the doctors won't let him in because he is too young to enter the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit-"

"Should you be saying that?" Yukiko snapped quietly, but not quietly enough. Both parents have been dismissed from work and were wearing casual clothes, an uncommon sight for Chiharu. It scared her to see them look so sad.

"Not knowing would only freak her out when she starts to fully understand her situation," he reasoned.

"Where is Satsuki?" The young girl didn't answer the question. "She was out in the woods, where is she right now?"

"Sa-satsuki?" Yukiko's face dropped, unable to describe what had happened.

"Mom, where is she?"

The room was all white. She was lying flat on her back on a wheeled bed made of a thin mattress and papery sheets. The room had a starchy smell with the television located near the ceiling. Chiharu looked outside the window beside her bed, but only saw concrete with no signs of life. The outside only showed the side of the hospital barred with wires. Her room had a big sliding glass door with a sign taped on it to warn of caution. She knew that there were other rooms beside her, probably holding patients whose conditions were just as bad as her's, if not worse. Was Mirei in the hospital too?

"Mirei is in the other room, she is doing well." Yukiko ignored her daughter's question.

"Satsuki, I'm not asking about Mirei, I know Mirei is okay if I am okay. I can even hear her!" She cried and looked at her mom desperately for an answer.

Mirei, in the other room, was given the news right away, rather than how Yukiko was trying to avoid it. Chiharu didn't understand why her friend was screaming and trying to force her way out of her room, or at least that is what it sounded like. She could hear her friend pounding on the glass door with her fists. The door to her room could only be unlocked from the outside. The voices of doctors and nurses could be heard rushing to Mirei and trying to calm her down.

"She... Sa-satsuki..." Yukiko stuttered. She took a deep breath in and looked down, unable to meet her daughter's eyes. "She is gone. We couldn't find her."

* * *

**Author Note's:**

What, a very long flashback this is. At least it's not like some manga where flashbacks last for volumes... We're looking at you, Naruto. Anyways, question of the chapter! What was your favorite activity to do as a child? Read and review! Sorry that we didn't upload this until later, but it was a busy Friday for us and we forgot to upload it online.

* * *

"**RainSonata": **I liked to draw, read books, watch Disney movies, and daydream story ideas. And question the meaning of life. I was an odd child. My biggest dream back then was to get a Gameboy SP or a Gameboy Advance so I could play pokemon. Pokemon Crystal was my first game. I got into the pokemon video games very late (11 years old), but I was a fan of the anime since first grade.

"**LunarAbyss":** Anything game or art related hahaha. Started playing Pokemon Blue when I was two years old. :3 Once, I made an entire mansion out of post its, paper, origami, and tape. Built it in my desk during the fourth grade for the little animal erasers that we got as rewards for being good kids. I was about to expand it and add a garden, but my teacher found it, told me to bring it home, and then my mom trashed it. *sadface*

"**MikaStoryInc":** I drew houses and played piano... Am I the only person who did so little? I didn't have any game consoles of any kind other than a Gameboy Color that my brother owned before my parents bought him a Gameboy SP. He got the Gameboy Color from a cousin who got a Gameboy Advance. Sadly, the console did not work...yeah, I played with broken things and scary dolls... And then "Satsuki" gave me a DS the summer after my first year of college along with Pokemon Pearl - my first ever Pokemon game.


	14. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

* * *

**Disclaimer:** We don't own pokemon. We don't own the sky. We don't own the universe. Enjoy.

* * *

"Vee?" _Satsuki?_ Eevee perked up his head to look at his trainer. The moon was high in the night sky, its dim white light shining down through the trees within the forest just outside the port city of Olivine City. "Vee, vee, eve?" _Are you okay Satsuki?_

The young teen was sitting with her back against a tree, her knees bent and pressed against her chest as she wrapped her arms around her legs and gripped at her arms. Despite the pain from the cut she received while chasing down Celebi, she only continued to grip harder as the skin threatened to split open once again. Her body shivered as her eyes were pooling tears that refused to fall.

"I'm alright," she bit her lip, as if trying to convince herself of that statement. "It was only a dream."

"Vul..." _Didn't look like just a dream... _Her fire fox like pokemon whined. The Vulpix stood up and stretched before going over to paw her trainer.

Due to the additional injuries that only seem to accumulate, Satsuki had to ditch her short sleeved clothing and wear something that would be able to hide her bruised or cut skin. After properly addressing her wounds, after having not only Elliot and Entei chastise her but her entire team, she chose a white long sleeved dress shirt that she tailored to her size with a black hooded trench coat of sorts. The coat itself fell down to the mid section of her calves while a dark grey pair of denim jeans covered her legs. They were scrunched up and tucked into her high belted black boots, heels making her about an inch taller.

"Eevee?" _What's it about?_

"A forest," Satsuki murmured. "And a fire... Blood staining the grass and..."

"Pi," _Oh, that dream. _The fire type interrupted to prevent her trainer from having to relive the memory yet again.

"Vee, ee ee eve!" _Satsuki, this may be a bad time to bring it up, but I want to train! _Her Eevee bounced up from a small pile of leaves he had gathered for himself and the Vulpix. "Eevee, eevee vee vee ee." _If we trained and become stronger, than we wouldn't have to run away before getting what you need._

"I already said that I don't want to involve more pokemon than it's worth," Satsuki snapped, her eyes flashed towards the two small pokemon. The normal type gave a stubborn glare as the fox pokemon tilted her head with concern.

"Vul, vulpix pii." _We all agreed that it would be more helpful to you. _The orange fox pokemon went over to rub her fuzzy head against the girl's arm.

Despite that it has been five years since they left, Satsuki's pokemon were barely used in fights and almost never trained. Their trainer more concern with making sure they were fed and that they were happy, considering their current situation. They occasionally helped her in small tasks like Feebas helping her get out of the lake in Ilex Forest, but besides that, they were not capable of fighting against strong trainers. Entei was Satsuki's main pokemon for important tasks and was the only one who was able to take multiple hits.

"Sci, zor." _We want to fight,_ Conroy said. Scizor was resting underneath a tree when he woke up from his trainer's screams. "Scizor, zor." _We are pokemon. Fighting makes us stronger. _ He sharpened his red pincers together to emphasize his point.

"Rall, ral alt ralts." _And we'll help you get to your goal faster._ The feeling pokemon poked her head from behind the bug pokemon.

"Feebas, bass." _What will happen when this is all over anyways?_

"Deino, deino?" _Can I get more Rare Candy? _ The dark dragon type pokemon poked his head up from his slumber with a tired face. There was drool hanging from his chin. He was probably dreaming of eating a mountain of food; there was grass hanging from the edge of his mouth.

"It doesn't matter how this plays out," Satsuki said with an odd dark glint in her eyes, like she knows something that no one else does. "If this ends well or badly, it doesn't matter. I'll be saying 'hello, I'm home' to everyone dear to me. I just wonder if it will be with or without a struggle."

* * *

Route 41

"You saw Satsuki?" Chiharu said with shock. It took five years for her to learn that from her own best friend. Her trust within the brunette was already sinking, and this only made it plummet down further. She grasped Gyarados' tough fin with one hand in frustration.

"It wasn't her!" Mirei snapped back, "She didn't look like she did. Her eyes were wide like she was shocked. Why would you look surprised if you did it on purpose? I know it wasn't her!" Red's Pikachu covered his ears with his short paws as the two girls started arguing back and forth between two water pokemon.

"Is that why you refuse to believe everything that has happened so far is real?" She snapped back. "Can you really be that delusional?"

"What kind of person has that look when they burn down a forest?" She cried, "Why are you so cynical of everything?"

"Who's Ariados was that?" The catcher practically screamed, "Those pokeballs broke because it belonged to somebody. Who else had a chance to catch a horrendous pokemon like that? No one else in the village has one! You can't even find it roaming in the forest after that night!"

"She only sai-!"

"She only _said_ that she met one. Did she mention that she probably caught it? You can't find evolved pokemon like that in the wild, so of course she would have caught it, wouldn't you think?"

"He had other pokemon too!" Mirei shrieked, "You saw them! He had more than one pokeball in his belt!"

"All I know is that he had a Larvitar. That's. It." She emphasized.

He even took out the pokemon out of its pokeball to show it as proof to the villagers. He claimed that he got the pokemon from a friend of a friend. The small rock type pokemon had a stone eyed look when it came out. It was always bawling and had to be fed rocks and dirt every day as it was always hungry. When it wasn't crying, it was giving its trainer evil looks full of loathe and distrust.

"It doesn't take much effort to evolve a Spinarak." The brunette girl said with equal stubbornness. All bug pokemon grew quickly in short time. It wasn't uncommon to see a Caterpie to become a Butterfree within a day. Ariados were said to appear in harsh areas, but Ilex Forest wasn't one of the areas.

"No one can evolve one without training like crazy in these areas!"

"Satsuki barely trains her own pokemon!" Mirei shouted back.

"Exactly. The more reason why catching a fully evolved pokemon would be more useful!" Chiharu spat. Her hands curled into fists as she tried to contain her anger from becoming physical. "With her ability to befriend everything, there is no doubt that she could have caught that thing without having to really lift a finger. Can we really continue believing that she isn't really running and fighting against her own will?"

The trainer didn't answer; instead she whipped her head down to just stare at the rocky shell of the Lapras she rode upon. The Kanto champion and gym leader, unable to bring themselves to stop the fight, ended up giving each other concerned glances and frustrated sighs. The two weren't expecting a verbal battle immediately upon the ending flashback. Green sighed; they asked the girls for their side of the story, but only to meet more questions and confusion. Chiharu wasn't the one catching the legendary pokemon. All of the evidence pointed to the missing girl. The two girls from Matsuba's prophecy turned out to have their own problems where both of them refused to change their views of the situation. Chiharu's mom made it sound like Satsuki ran away while the girls' version of the story made it sound like she was kidnapped. But then how was she at the village just days before? Was there a second person in this mystery?

Cianwood City shone when they arrived. The city by the ocean had many buildings scattered with lights shining through the dark night. They have somehow made it to the city within a day. It helped that chasing two trainers had them gain some distance before they spent the rest of the day floating through the waters of route 41 on Lapras and Gyarados. The two water pokemon were swimming slowly in the cool water with their heads stretched out to the city.

"We're here," Red said quietly.

Mirei and Chiharu have both fallen asleep from exhaustion of the chase. After their argument, the girls stared at the ocean for a while before slowly drifting away to sleep. The gym leader felt odd having a girl he just met fall asleep while hugging his waist. When the girls told their stories, their expression of anger and confusion had been replaced with a haunting look of bitterness. Their argument piled more information in the Kanto trainers' minds, giving them more questions than answers.

"What now?" Green stared at the dark ocean below. The girls' stories were still in his mind. The missing girl disappearing into the woods with pokemon, the blue haired girl bounded by the bug pokemon, the brunette girl struggling to get out of the PICU. Their past haunted his mind when Red interrupted his thoughts.

"We rest," the Kanto champion pointed to the Pokemon Center that was at the edge of the beach. "We will find that tower."

The tower was said to be near Cianwood, according to the prophecy. When the group swam through the Whirl Islands, there was no tower to be seen. Perhaps the tower was inside one of the islands? Red looked at the empty caves when they swam by them in route 41, but saw nothing. The islands were low leveled and probably stretched down below the ocean surface. But the prophecy said that the tower allowed the sea, land, and sky to meet. The tower would have to be open to the sky to do so. The tower couldn't be in the Whirl Islands, it was somewhere else.

"How can we find a tower when we don't even know where it is or what it looks like?" Red shrugged to the gym leader's question and gently pats Lapras on the back to signal that they have arrived to their destination. He looked into the dark summer sky and spots a shooting star race by with its bright tail.

* * *

Cianwood City

Green sighed as he and Chiharu were walking up north of Cianwood City the next day. They have rested at the Pokemon Center the night before; it was now Saturday morning with the flying pokemon high in the sky and the pokemon out and about to roam on the sandy beaches. He spied a Krabby crawling on the sparkling sand with its pincers out. The orange crab found a rice ball a tourist must have dropped and was holding the snack in its claws with a cheery smile. A larger Krabby crawled out of a rock and went to the first water pokemon on its sides. The bigger Krabby snatched the rice ball from the smaller crab and stuffed the rice ball in its foaming mouth. It was clear cloudless day, perfect for searching for a rumored mountain with a seriously annoyed trainer that seems to only snap at anything that disrupted her thinking.

"Wasn't it harsh of you to get mad at her?" The gym leader asked carefully, eying the girl with caution.

"She's blinded by her faith," Chiharu said. "She never accepts the truth, even if it was spelled out for her."

"You didn't have to be so blunt about it," the green eyed trainer reminded her.

"If I wasn't blunt about it, she would never have noticed that she ignores warnings." The blue haired girl replied back. "It's better to know the truth so that when the worse happens, you won't be as disappointed."

She said the last word with bitterness. It looked like she was ready to cry soon. She had a hazy look in her eyes and gritted her teeth occasionally, as if she had come upon an unpleasant thought. Her Gloom was out of her pokeball and gave the girl a worried look. The plant pokemon's flower would have made any ordinary trainer's nose stiffen at first impression, but Gloom was odorless at the moment. Although Glooms were known for their smelly stench, the smell was only obvious after the pokemon uses its spore attacks or when surprised.

"What warnings?" Green looked at the girl with wonder. "What do you mean?"

The trainer gazed at the distant waves washing over the sandy beaches. It was a hot humid summer. They were in the area of the beach far from the tourists. There was only an old couple walking down the edge of the waters exchanging small talk. There were a few water pokemon swimming near the shore of Cianwood City, a couple of Tentacool, probably waiting for its easy meal to come to it. A couple of Shuckle were sleeping peacefully behind the sand dunes of the beach. Green turned his head around and saw a cave opening to the left side of the city. The tower was supposed to be west of the Safari Zone. That must be the Safari Zone's entrance.

"When Satsuki disappeared," Chiharu whispered. She bent over to pick up a small shell. It was a spiral shell with stripes that pointed outward from the center. "Mirei and I were in the hospital. When Mirei went back home, she locked herself in her room for a week."

No matter how often the blue haired girl went to Mirei's house to offer her notes from class or to hang out in the forest, the brunette girl refused to come out. Despite her begging, Chiharu's requests and questions were answered with silence from her friend. Chiharu noticed that all of Mirei's pokemon were nowhere to be seen at the front of the house at their usual spots. The berry bushes that were usually sprouting in front of her house were slightly wilted from the lack of attention and care. Mirei's aunt loudly proclaimed to Chiharu that Mirei insisted on being home schooled again. She had a pleading look, as if waiting for Chiharu to object to her insistence. She slammed the door almost as soon as Chiharu turned away from the door.

"One day," she slowly continued. "I went to her house again and told her 'The adults can't find her. Why don't we go find her ourselves?'" Small tears fell down her face, but her voice was still even. "We somehow made it to this one city with our low leveled team and saw a gym. After Mirei defeated her first gym, I said, 'Hey, why don't we go collect the gym badges too? We can be stronger for Satsuki so we can rescue her when we find her!'"

"What...does that have to do with the warnings?" Green asked carefully, unsure of what direction the girl was going to.

"This trainer told Mirei that she didn't understand her pokemon," Chiharu said. "Matsuba did too." She looked at Green with a sad smile, "I told her that we were looking for Satsuki so she could come out. The gym badges were there as another excuse to get her out. If it wasn't for that, she would still be locking herself out from the world."

The gym leader watched as the teenager, who just the day before had screamed at his face and shoved him off his own pokemon, had her hands clinging to her face and hair as her usual proud dark brown eyes wavered. Her cheeks turned into the similar shade of pink her eyes held; she must have cried last night when no one was around to witness it. Her usual neat braid was tied into a sloppy ponytail, too rushed this morning to get out of the Pokemon Center, away from Mirei. Her emotions flowed out, like a dam that had just broke open. Green could see the desperate child from years ago within the catcher.

"It's my fault that she became like this," she started to cry, unable to hold in any longer. "Her pokemon don't like to train. All she can think of now is training and getting stronger than anything. All those trainers warned Mirei many times, but she ignores them. It's like she can't even register it in her ears. She refuses to understand."

'It's my fault.' Those three words. How much he hated those words. Those words that has haunted him for some time. That familiar phrase. He had heard it so many times. Blue taking the blame for Red's isolation. Himself for destroying the friendship between his childhood friends. He wasn't smart enough to tell who were his true friends. Those friends he chose over them...they were the popular kids. It was all for show and tell. So were those girls he dated throughout middle and high school. They have all left him once high school was over. They never stuck around like Blue or Red did. They gave him their contacts with a 'hope we stay in contact' but they never did. At least Red didn't actively try to leave him alone. Maybe his relation with Blue wasn't the greatest since she still threw in snarky comments at times, but at least they were comfortable enough that they could hold a decent personal conversation for long periods of time. After all, he was one of the few trainers who could call Blue by her real name without risking getting hit outside of school and business.

"I didn't think she would still believe by now that we could find Satsuki on our own. If the adults can't find her, how can we?" Chiharu looked at the shell carefully before throwing it into the ocean with a plop. "Then I ran into Satsuki. She didn't talk to me but she was there. I told Mirei, but she didn't believe me. She won't believe in anything that doesn't match her standards."

"You ran into her?" Green asked cautiously.

They have now entered the Safari Zone entrance west of Cianwood City. The entrance was the inside of a cave with manmade stairs leading to the upper part of the hollowed out cave. Green and Chiharu started climbing up the long pair of stairs. The steps were small enough and manageable, but it was still troublesome to put the effort. Chiharu worked her way up the stairs, taking each step slow and steady as she continued on with the talk.

"She caught something, I don't know what, but she had just caught a pokemon," Chiharu answered quietly. "She looked frozen in place. Like she couldn't move. Her eyes were the only thing moving, noticing that I was there and that she didn't expect me at all. Her arm, she was hurt. Blood was running down her arm and openly dripping onto the forest floor, but it was like she didn't realize it. She only looked at me. She wouldn't talk at me. She didn't even try to stop and apply pressure to her injury. She just stared at me, stared with dull, blank, tired eyes."

"And then she ran?" Green wiped his brow from the heat.

"Something came," Chiharu said. "It flew over my head. I think it was near her the whole time. There's no way she can run with those injuries."

"It's not your fault that she ran," the Kanto trainer sighed, noticing how the teen was slowly drowning in her despair. He knew how little words would do in a situation that had been thrown at one's face, and if it kept tossing more shit to deal with (1). He also recognized how easy it was to be swallowed by one's past and regrets. He hoped that Chiharu can hear them though as he continued, "It's extremely unreasonable for someone who hasn't seen a friend in five years to trust the person immediately. She's probably been fighting all those years, and didn't expect to meet a person she knew..."

"If I told the villagers that I suspected that man before that happened, maybe Satsuki would still be here," she said. "I should have told them the truth. I should have stayed with her, instead of letting her deal with him by herself. I should have never left her alone."

"You can't change the past," Green said softly. "You can only move forward, and avoid making the same mistakes. And do what you can, to fix what is broken." They finally reached the top of the stairs and stepped outside to meet the cool ocean breeze. Green knew that it would take half a day at minimum to reach to the Safari Zone because there were at least two short land routes and one cave to go through before reaching the Safari Zone. Chiharu had a determined expression that looked like she wanted to prove otherwise.

"I'm not mad at you anymore," Chiharu said. This surprised the gym leader, who threw her a questioned look. "I can't stay mad at you. How can I blame you for going after us? It was only your job to find the person who took those legendaries and the clues pointed at us. What you two did was nothing compared to him."

"Well, we don't even know if it's his fault. He may just be as innocent as the next person." He replied. "Hey, what would you do, if she is catching legendaries for her own gain? What can she possibly want from gathering them?"

"I remember my mom telling me a story when I was a kid." Her eyebrows scrunched up. Chiharu eagerly attempted to recall a memory, as if frantic to find something to replace the bitter past with a fictional tale. She took a step back and put one hand under her chin in thought, "It went something like this:

Twenty one or twenty two are in need,

To create a new world for one to lead.

A world where anything can come true,

But a dream that only is believed by few.

The winner becomes king,

It all starts with a ring.

Life, death, and beginning.

Led by the past, present, and futuristic viewing.

Change, rebirth and purity,

Led by peace and conflict in harmony.

The sea, the sky, and the land,

United by the wishes of woman and man.

Under time, space, and being,

Are connected by a god singing.

Singing the song of the lonely creator,

Inspired by the legends' savior."

Green stared at the girl while she finished reciting the lengthy nursery rhyme. It was a rhyme most children were raised with and sang in the playgrounds without knowing its true meaning. It was supposed to describe how the world and universe was created. A story meant to be told to young children before entering school. The gym leader was surprised that Chiharu still knew it by heart. Most children quickly dismissed nursery rhymes and legendary pokemon once they grew older and attended school.

"Wait, do you think she is trying to recreate what had happened in the nursery rhyme?" His eyes grew wide, "Why twenty one or twenty two?" Why the uncertainty in the numbering?

"She still remembers them," Chiharu didn't answer his question directly and looked at her Gloom instead, who was walking beside them. They were walking through the narrow mountain path. Gloom wobbled through the narrow path with carefulness. "She never says it, but she misses them. She's not the kind of person to share her personal thoughts and secrets with anyone. I'm only close to her because our moms knew each other. She probably doesn't remember me."

"If she didn't, she wouldn't have just stared at you, don't you think?"

"Maybe," she paused to look at the waterfall pouring down the mountainside. It was truly breathtaking. "If she wanted to bring them back, I can't blame her. I would have done the same if something happened to Keigo or mom and dad..."

"But it's only a myth." Green tried to argue, so desperate to be told by someone that the chase was foolish and meaningless.

He was getting scared of how serious she was taking the tale. Was it even normal for teenage girls her age to take things so seriously? The gym leader thought briefly of the high school girls who would giggle in the corner. They would gossip and backstab each other, shortening their skirts in attempt to impress the boys while texting on their Pokegears. Their faked high pitch voices annoyed him, but he smiled on as he dated some of those girls in his second year of high school. That Mirei girl wasn't too similar to those high school girls either. She had the clothes for it, but her personality sure didn't match it.

"Every legend starts with some truth, or else it wouldn't have become one. That's probably what she is hoping... How many legendaries had she caught already..?" Chiharu didn't seem to notice the gym leader's concern look on her maturity level.

"I don't know. I don't think anyone knows." He shook his head. Green checked his Pokegear for any messages, but the device signaled nothing. He was genuinely shocked that he did not receive any calls from Blue yet, especially with a certain youngster trainer running around Viridian City.

"Mister Green?" She looked worried, "Something wrong?"

"No..." He said flatly. "And please, just Green. We'll be traveling for awhile. The mister isn't necessary." He examined his green Pokegear. The hard plastic shell failed to show any signs of problems despite it being soaked by water yesterday while they were surfing. The Pokegear was dropped multiple times from dangerous tasks but was still working and running.

"Ah..." She didn't know how to respond. Chiharu then said, "Can I call you my senior then?"

"What?" Green fell to the ground, "I'm barely three years older than you!" He rubbed his head from the impact of hitting the dry ground on his side. He noticed that the ground was a rusty mahogany color.

"Um, boss? (2)" She suggested.

"Ugh, just call me Green. Gu-rii-n." The brunette man stretched out his name for emphasis. "What's with the formality?"

Was this her attempt of trying to make amends for blowing up on him yesterday? The Kanto trainer cringed at the memory of her pushing him into the ocean after he dragged her unwillingly into Gyarados' back. The sudden shift in formality threw him off. Green sometimes had a hate for the formality the schools hammered into their students. In the world of trainers, formality was mainly set aside unless the trainer was strong or well known. He felt strange for being called Mister by a person that was nearly the same age as him.

"You said you wanted to get to the Safari Zone, didn't you?" The gym leader pointed to the cave up ahead, "We better keep walking if we want to make it there today."

"Right..."

* * *

Cianwood City

"I don't understand why she keeps trying to convince me," Mirei clenched her fists. "Satsuki isn't at fault." Her Pidgeot was out of his pokeball and was flying above the two trainers, scanning through the big crowd of people. Pikachu sat rather comfortably on the bird's back and took in the ocean's breeze.

Red awkwardly followed her around as she tries to find her way around the city for the gym. Ever since the Safari Zone moved to Johto, more tourists and trainers have flocked to Cianwood City. It was summer, the peak of the sea city's prime in tourism. It was hard for the Kanto champion not to walk into bright color clad tourists with cameras and sunglasses at hand. Red pushed through a couple and saw a medicine shop on his left as he passed by.

"What would you do if she is right?" The Kanto champion asked as he had to pick up pace to keep up with the short brunette's stride. The girl promptly left the Pokemon Center in the opposite direction of Chiharu. Mirei had her hair in her usual side ponytail along with her typical traveling clothes. He noticed that the two pokemon above them were exchanging tired looks.

"She isn't like that, don't start trying to tell me otherwise too!" She snapped, suddenly stopping to spin around and point at Red. He quickly slid to a stop to avoid having her finger stab his nose.

"Pikachu?" _Is she always like that? _ Red's pokemon asked the bird pokemon, who had caught sight of the familiar rooftop all gyms had. The gym had a rounded brown roof with windows peeking out.

"Pi, geot..." _Unfortunately, yes..._ Pidgeot said warily. "Pidgeot, geot, to!" _Mirei, the gym's over there! _ He cried to his trainer, unsure if she would understand him at all. He pointed at the rounded roof top with the tip of his head.

"I'm just saying 'if'. It's kind of unreasonable for you to stubbornly believe otherwise. I mean, there is that possibility..." He replied. He took a step back to prevent himself from going cross-eyed.

"Of course I know there is a possibility! But Satsuki isn't like that. She wouldn't use Keigo as hostage! She loves that kid too much. Like her own little brother. And then there is no way she can even catch a legendary, she doesn't train her pokemon at all. She never did."

"A second person?" Red adjusted his cap to wipe a sweat off his forehead. He wanted to take off his hat all together, but he also preferred avoiding sunburns from the blazing sun above them. Although he left Mt. Silver a year ago, Sinnoh wasn't as hot or humid as Johto was. He ignored the weird looks tourists gave him because of the inch thick layer of sunscreen he applied to himself.

"Uh, duh. I don't know who you're chasing, but whoever you met before isn't Satsuki." She nodded.

_But it is her, we even have witnesses..._ the Kanto champion thought to himself, recalling how Keigo nearly drowned himself in depression only days before. They saw it themselves. Satsuki keeping Chiharu's brother hostage, the gym leader being burned by a punk dressed trainer, and a similar sighting of a trainer seen in Johto attempting to steal an important item. It was too coincidental for it to happen. Unless there was someone behind the whole thing... But there was no evidence of that either besides from the girls' memories.

"I was told you like to battle," the raven haired trainer said as he checked his Pokegear again. The red device told him that they were getting closer to the city's gym. The Pokegear's screen was hard to read under the shiny sun. By the time he and Green arrived to Cianwood City, his Pokegear was dead of energy and had to switch to backup solar power energy. After a night's worth of recharging, the communication device was good as new and was flashing lights as he played with the Pokegear in his hands.

"Training, not battling," the teen corrected. "I want my pokemon to become stronger, stronger than anyone else so I can stop anyone who threatens to hurts my friends ever again."

"Even if your pokemon hate it?" He gave a side glance to Pidgeot. The bird pokemon seemed to realize the attention he was receiving from the champion and threw his head into the air with a cry.

"Pidgeot, geot, geot!" _Crap, they're talking about me!_ Pidgeot's wings grew stiff from the sudden gaze of Red. Pikachu saw his discomfort and tried to pat the flying type lightly on the neck with reassurance.

"Pika, pika?" _What's wrong with that?_ Pikachu stroked Pidgeot's head crest, a poor attempt of emulating a back massage he once saw on television. His paws were too small to properly give the bird pokemon a back massage. He turned his head around and checked to make sure his body didn't paralyze Pidgeot by mistake.

"They don't hate it. They want to be strong too!"

"Really..." He exhaled a breath of annoyance.

This morning, when the group had a quiet and awkward breakfast, the Kanto trainer caught sight of Mirei's team talking frantically to each other. Red saw Chiharu's Espeon saying calming words to the team, only to be interrupted by Mirei's flamboyant Leafeon. The grass pokemon ran around the Pokemon Center yelling out something. He was unsure what, but it sounded like the poor pokemon was whining along with the rest of Mirei's team. It was clear that her pokemon are grudgingly following their trainer. Even pokemon can only deal with something for so long.

"What else am I supposed to believe..?" She asked with a quiet voice. Red almost didn't hear her. "If I can't be strong, how can I stop whoever is hurting Satsuki? How can I save her? She is still the same girl I know, or else why did she scream for our sake?"

"Eh?"

"How can people say all those horrible things about her? There is no way she would do any of that. If she really is different, what am I supposed to do? What can I actually believe to be true?" She felt her shoes digging into the soft white sand. Her Pidgeot cried out his name several times, but his trainer didn't seem to notice. Pikachu chirped a few times before giving up.

"There isn't much you can do, but to accept it," Red sighed. Back when he was still battling as the active champion, the staff constantly spoke about him behind his back. None of the gossip can be considered beneficial or of praise. They all wondered when he would finally be beaten and that he didn't earn or even deserve to be called the champion. "Just endure it, and survive. Find a new reason to continue on."

"My pokemon want to be strong too," Mirei repeated. "We have to be strong. If I can't be strong, what else is there to do? It's the only goal I have." She thought of the times she ditched class to run away with Chiharu in another attempt to find Satsuki. After Satsuki introduced her to the forest, she found herself trying to get away from her house more often. It became harder for her to push herself into visiting the elderly because the forest had something the village didn't: freedom. "I'm not that smart like Chiharu. I can't try that hard like Keigo. I can't connect to pokemon like Satsuki can. I don't even know what I want to do after we find Satsuki."

"I suppose it will just come to you when you do meet her," he shrugged.

"I guess," she said quietly. "Chiharu said you fought Green when you were eleven..." She remembered her friend's excitement that day. The blue haired girl gushed about how close the Kanto trainer was to his pokemon and how hard they battled. The only thing Mirei actually remembered was how much effort he and his team worked to get that far. She thought that she too could reach to the top if she and her pokemon worked hard enough. If they trained enough.

"Yeah... I can't say that was the highlight of my life though." He turned away to face the ground.

"What do you mean?" Mirei demanded to know, "Isn't it great to finally become the strongest trainer in the world? You can have anything. Money, work, love…" The brunette girl counted with her fingers.

"Winning that battle had little meaning. It was only another battle, and I lost more than I had gained that day."

Red had money, he had a job as the champion, and he didn't have time to meet anyone. He hardly even had time to leave the Indigo Plateau. He clearly remembered each time he had to call home to tell his mother that he won't be able to visit home that weekend, or for the next five weekends after that. Once he left the Indigo Plateau to go back to school, the same faces of excitement and awe greeted him in every corner. He hated it. The champion could no longer stand the expectations everyone had for him. He couldn't stand seeing the disappointment in Blue and Green when he couldn't find the right words to say to them. Facing the real world was asking too much. It was only when the world needed him most did he reluctantly come out of his isolation.

"If I get stronger," the teenage girl said. "I can finally be strong enough to defeat that creep for taking Satsuki! He'll be too weak to fight back! That will teach him for messing with us!" Mirei threw her fist into the air for emphasis on each sentence. Her Pidgeot flew in the air slowly with a sad smile, as if he had heard this speech before.

"Just remember this," the champion said in a low tone. "Being strong doesn't necessarily mean fighting with blunt strength. Winning doesn't always mean a happy ending. There's never an easy answer to everything." Red gave her a curt nod.

"Huh?" She didn't get it.

"Your Pidgeot wants your attention," Red pointed at the big osprey pokemon. The bird pokemon pointed his body towards the west of where they were standing.

"Oh." She turned pink in embarrassment. Mirei saw the gym up ahead and realized that her pokemon was trying to tell her that he saw it earlier. She hollered, "Thanks Sora! I didn't see it there!"

"Pidgeot," _Finally!_ The bird wiped his forehead as if he had sweat. "Pidgeot, pidgeot!" _This gym should be easy!_ Pidgeot beat his wings to show his strength.

* * *

Cianwood City Gym

"I, Black Belt Fumihito, challenge you to a match!" A well built man wearing white robes with a black belt posed at the new challenger. His pokemon posed along with his trainer with a gleam in its eyes. The pokemon had its fists forward in a fighting stance and wore red boxing gloves and a purple outfit. It was brown colored and had stocky legs.

"Is this a fighting type gym?" Red asked aloud, staring at the shirtless gym leader steadily holding his ground underneath a crashing waterfall. "I would have thought it was a water type gym if it wasn't for all these martial artists."

"Where's the gym leader?' Mirei asked, looking around at the other black belts training by the waterfall. Many of them were practicing their moves and fighting against each other and their pokemon. Where could be the gym leader be? She didn't see him among the crowd of men.

"He's in the waterfall..." the Kanto champion answered. His Pikachu sat on his trainer's shoulder with a bored look.

"Pika, pi, pikachu." _ Wish he could let me cool down with that,_ Pikachu pointed at the artificial waterfall running down the shirtless man. "Pikachu." _It's hot,_ the electric rat plopped down on his stomach and stuck out his tongue.

"Defeat me in a battle and I'll give you the answer!" Fumihito cried, "Hiya!" He jumped in front of the girl and shouted, "Let our fists do the fightin'!"

"But my friend just told me where he was," she said with a confused expression. Red's voice was definitely loud enough to be heard by the junior gym trainer.

"All this talking is pointless!" He roared, "Are you here to win a badge or not?"

"Of course I'm here to win a badge!" Mirei roared back. She pointed at the pokemon, "Sora, go use Wing Attack on that pokemon!" Pidgeot, who was flying beside Mirei, soared towards the fighting type pokemon.

"Pid, geot!" _Dinner time! _ Pidgeot sang, "Pidgeot, geot, pid!" _No fighting type is safe from me!_ The flying pokemon bragged as it hurled itself towards the quiet pokemon.

"Hitmonchan, wait for that Pidgeot to get closer!" Hitmonchan's trainer shouted. The punch pokemon stood patiently on its guard as Pidgeot zoomed toward its direction. The bird pokemon nearly touched Hitmonchan when the Black Belt commanded, "Now, Ice Punch!"

"Hitmon, chan?" _Where do you think you're going? _ The fighting pokemon got ready and gathered its energy to its fist. "Chan, chan, hitmonchan?" _Didn't anyone tell you that patience is a virtue? _

Hitmonchan leaned over with its right fist glowing faintly blue. Mirei heard ice forming with a crinkling noise as the punching pokemon struck Pidgeot in the chest with Ice Punch. Too late to slow down, Pidgeot took the punch and shrieked at the icy cold sensation piercing through his chest. The bird pokemon gasped from the super effective attack, barely staying conscious from the critical hit. Pidgeot collapsed on the ground and struggled to stand up with wobbly talons.

"Hitmon, chan, hit, mon." _Aw, maybe next time cause I'm not becoming anyone's meal._

"Pid-..." _I-... _The bird gasped for breath, feeling rather faint.

"Have Pidgeot speed down again," Red called over to the flying type's trainer. "If he makes Hitmonchan use Ice Punch or something, then tell Pidgeot to dodge using Quick Attack before using Wing Attack again."

"Sora, come over here." Mirei called back her pokemon. She took out a small spray bottle and applied it to the bird's chest. "It's Super Potion. You feeling better now?" Pidgeot cooed in reply to his trainer's question before she said, "Let's go kick that Hitmonchan's butt!"

"Pidgeot, geot." _Thank Arceus you bought all those potions_, the bird pokemon thanked Mirei. The cold effect of Ice Punch was already fading away because of the summer heat. "Geot, geot." _I thought I was a goner there._

"Chan? Chan?" _Potions? Really? _The pokemon with the boxing gloves cocked his head to the side, "Hitmonchan, chan, hitmonchan!" _Only real men fight without potions! _ Hitmonchan had his fists on his hips in the manliest way possible.

"Pidgeot?" _But you're a pokemon?_ Pidgeot nearly sweat dropped at the random comment from the fighting pokemon.

"Only if you can counter my Hitmonchan's speed," the Black Belt said. "Hitmonchan, hit Pidgeot with Thunderpunch!" The punching pokemon clashed its fists together before properly stancing itself to attack. Its fist glowed yellowish white with sparks flying out.

"Avoid using Quick Attack!" Pidgeot quickly flew out of Hitmonchan's reach and appeared behind it. The flying pokemon darted at the back and sank his talons into its flesh, causing Hitmonchan to give out a short cry. "Now, Wing Attack!"

"Gi!" _Take this!_ Pidgeot thrilled as his wing glowed and sliced down the fighting pokemon. The pressure of the flying attack forced Hitmonchan to slam against the wall with Psyducks flying around his head.

"Chaaan chan mon?" _Why did you use a potion if you had this much power? _It asked the flying type as its eyes spun around and round. "Hitmonchan, chaaan!" _I spent months training with a Macho Braaace!_ The fighting pokemon extended the last word and sank from the wall, unable to stand up. He glared at Pidgeot before falling unconscious and fainted from the super effective attack.

"My Hitmonchan!" The Black Belt trainer groaned. He recalled his pokemon back into its pokeball, "You're one of the most manly flying type pokemon I have ever seen! Well, now that you beat me, I have to go back to training!" He gave a short bow to Mirei's Pidgeot and handed the girl a few poke-yen bills.

"Pidgeot, geot?" _Am I supposed to be happy for being called manly?_ The bird pokemon looked confused at the compliment.

"Pika, pikachu." _Just accept it,_ Red's Pikachu yawned. "Pikachu, pika, pi." _Most fighting pokemon are like that. _

"Thanks for the advice," She smiled before adding, "How are we supposed to get to him?" Mirei spotted the gym leader underneath the waterfall, surrounded by several other gym trainers. "Are we really going to fight all of them?" All of the trainers were Black Belts. Not a single female trainer was found in the building.

"Probably, though it's 'you', not 'we'." Red corrected, holding his hands up in the air. "I'm not battling anyone."

The red eyed trainer took out a water canteen and a small bowl. He poured water into the bowl halfway through and put it down for his Pikachu. The yellow pokemon eagerly hopped to the bowl and took a long sip of water, too happy to be cooled down from July's summer. Pikachu stopped after a long sip and pushed the water bowl to Pidgeot. The bird pokemon took a few short sips, tipping his head down towards the water bowl. Both pokemon had a small chat in between taking a drink and some Pokemon food Red brought along for snacks.

"Right..." She groaned as she counted how many heads were left in the gym. _ Please don't tell me all of the trainers in here are obsessed with their masculinity... _The brunette trainer mentally begged after thinking about the Black Belt trainer's odd compliment to her Pidgeot.

* * *

Extra Notes:

**He knew how little words would do in a situation (1)** = This is pretty true, as cliché as it sounds. Depression is no exaggeration...

**Mr., senior, boss (2)** = If you're curious, those title are referring to the Japanese honorifics "san, senpai, and sama". Chiharu here is going to the extremes with "sama", which is pretty silly because Green isn't her boss, although he is higher ranking because he's a gym leader. Calling a gym leader "sama" is still pretty extreme in our opinion.

* * *

**Author's Notes: ** What a pretty rhyme. It didn't take long to write at all, hahaha. Chapter 13 was hell not because of the contents, but more of because the timing. One of the authors started summer session and the other one had personal problems for awhile. Hm, it's been awhile since we had a proper pokemon battle scene. I believe that was back in chapter 9? Read and review!

* * *

"**RainSonata": **You wouldn't believe how long it took me to recover from emotional problems back in 2011 IRL. It was an era I prefer to forget about. Even after recovery, it still comes back every now and then. It never seems to disappear entirely. However, that doesn't mean it's hopeless. Things WILL get better. It takes time and effort to fix things.

**"LunarAbyss":** Though everyone has their own way of dealing with depression, the ideas and thought processes are very similar. It's not the same, but the sense of hopelessness is definitely there. And it never truly leaves. If you're in a rut, talk it out or confide in someone, even if it's a random person on FanFiction via PM. It's much easier to survive when someone is there with you; friend, family, stranger, anyone.


	15. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

* * *

**Japanese Names:**

Shijima = Chuck

Wataru = Lance

* * *

**Disclaimer: **We do not own pokemon in any shape or form. We are simply college students writing fanfiction for fun and as a stress relief in between classes. Pokemon belongs to Gamefreak, Satoshi Tajiri, etc. Please support the official release and buy their merchandise.

* * *

Cianwood City Gym

"I am Shijima, the Cianwood gym leader!" A chubby middle age man bellowed to the challenger, "I can't believe you shut down the waterfall!" The shirtless man wore red pants with a black belt tied around his waist and had brown hair and a mustache.

"You didn't say anything after I yelled at you for a few minutes!" Mirei said with annoyance. She wasted her lungs shouting at the meditating man standing underneath the artificial waterfall pouring down his head. The middle age man was too focused to notice her presence, even after she tried tapping him on the shoulder. After she turned off the lever located above the water's source, he immediately looked up and spots the trainer with her pokemon beside her.

"I have to warn you that I'm a strong trainer training every day under this waterfall!" Shijima continued, "It's hard to hear anything over the running water!" The martial artist rubbed his ears. He was soaking wet from head to toe and took out a pokeball, "You came here for-"

"Can we just battle already?" The brunette girl interrupted the gym leader, "I already fought all of your gym trainers!" She pointed at the vacant gym; she had defeated all of the martial artists and has sent them to the Pokemon Center.

"I was just about to get to that!" The fighting specialist said, "Primeape is going to start today's work out!" A white monkey with a round body came out of the pokeball. It had small ears with metal shackles around its brown colored limbs. The pig monkey wore an angry expression and held up its fist in the air with a cry.

"My name is Mirei and you should have said that earlier!" The short girl said as she took out a red catching capsule, "Sora, go!" The tawny colored bird flew out of the pokeball, spreading his wide wings to show the glossy feathers.

"Prim, ape, prim, ape!" _This battle better be a good challenge!_ The monkey pokemon threw itself into a fighting stance, "Primeape, ape, ape! Ape, primeape, ape!" _ It will be a battle to test our manliness! Pokemon versus pokemon!_

"Pidgeot..." _Not another one... _The Pidgeot groaned. Why did nearly all of the fighting pokemon in this gym obsess about training so much? Or rant about their health? Being healthy was good, but he really didn't want to listen to his opponents talk about it during a battle. The last pokemon he fought started listing out the ingredients found in a typical poffin before the flying type knocked it out with a Wing Attack. Another pokemon recited its morning routine of exercising and jogging around Cianwood City while attacking Pidgeot with Jump Kick.

"Sora, use Wing Attack!" Mirei commanded with Pidgeot aiming for Primeape's head.

"Pidgeot, geot, geo!" _Stop talking about your masculinity! _ The bird pokemon shrilled with his talons out.

"Ape!" _Nonsense! _The pig monkey cried, "Primeape, primeape!" _Being manly is part of testing one's strength!_ Primeape stomped his feet and yelled at the Pidgeot flying towards his direction.

"Avoid that Wing Attack with Rock Slide!" Shijima ordered. His pokemon gave a quick nod and threw itself into the air to punch the ceiling, avoiding the flying attack. Pidgeot missed his target and flew straight into the side wall with a squawk. High in the air, Primeape made the ceiling crumbled and set several rocks tumbling down towards Pidgeot. The building jolted and rocks falling down; Mirei instinctively backed away from the sound of the attack. The bird pokemon slowly got up from the ground when he saw boulders falling his way.

"Quick Attack!" Pidgeot's trainer panicked at the falling rocks.

"It's too late!" The fighting type gym leader laughed, "Pidgeot has nowhere to fly!" Pidgeot's eyes bulged out as a boulder crushed the bird from the air and knocked it back to the gym floor. The bird pokemon sat still under the weight of the pile of boulders Primeape had done, struggling to keep his eyes open.

"Sora!" She took out her pokemon and recalled Pidgeot. The bird pokemon's body turned into red light and disappeared back into the capsule. "Return!" Mirei thought for a quick moment before making her decision, "Go Kisaki!" Her Nidorina replaced Pidgeot and entered the battle with a determined look.

"Use Rock Slide on her Nidorina too!" Shijima's Primeape punched the floor and mold the bits of clay into several boulders. The monkey pokemon held up several of the boulders and hurled it at the poison type pokemon.

"Quick, use Dig!" Mirei's Nidorina dug a hole into the soft clay floor. The turquoise colored pokemon used her sharp claws to dig through the touch materials and fit her body underground in time to avoid Primeape's rock attack. The boulders bounced off the clay floor and nearly hit Mirei, who had to step aside to avoid getting her foot crushed.

Primeape grew annoyed at its opponent was nowhere to be seen and shouted, "Primeape! Ape, ape?" _Hey! Where are you? _ The fighting typing pokemon stomped up to where Nidorina dug her hole and shouted into the hole, "Primeape, ape, prime!" _Stop running away like a coward! _The pokemon took a boulder and threw it at the hole, but heard no response to the missed attack.

"Now!" The girl exclaimed with her Nidorina digging out of the ground below the monkey. Nidorina attacked Primeape from behind and struck the pokemon with the horns on her head.

"Nidorina, rina!" _That is fighting with a brain! _ Kisaki tossed her head in the air as she tripped Primeape with a Double Kick, emphasizing each word with a kick. Primeape lost his balance as she knocked him down with the fighting attack. "Rina, na, nari, rina!" _This is what you get for knocking down Sora! _

"Primeape, Double Team!" Shijima hollered. His pokemon ran around the Nidorina in circles until an illusion was created of multiple monkey pokemon surrounding the poison type.

"Prime, ape!" _Catch me if you can! _ Primeape grunted, still able to stand. The pokemon charged Nidorina with its glowing fists. Several Primeape corned Nidorina as Primeape attacked Nidorina.

"Nidorina, rina!" _You can't hide forever! _ She snarled at the laughing monkey.

"Double Kick that one!" Mirei pointed at the leader of the herd. Kisaki threw her hind legs against the attacking Primeape and hit the pokemon in the face. The fighting type pokemon slammed against the ground from the first kick. Nidorina's second kick sent the pokemon falling unconscious with swirls in its eyes.

"Primeape is unable to battle!" The battle referee announced with Shijima recalling back the monkey into its pokeball.

"That was a fun battle!" The fighting type gym leader roared in laughter, "Ahahaha! I think I'm starting to be glad you interrupted my meditation!" The man stroked his long brown mustache, "I thought things were going to go down after I nearly knocked out that Pidgeot of yours!"

"My Pidgeot fought hard," Mirei gritted her teeth. "This is what you get for hitting him with Rock Slide."

"Why so angry?" Shijima looked surprised, "It's just a friendly battle." He patted the pokeball Primeape was in and thanks the pokemon for its effort. He took out a second pokeball and called out, "Poliwrath, let's fight!" A big blue pokemon appeared beside the martial art master. The glaring pokemon wore white gloves and had a swirl on its white belly.

"It doesn't matter why..." She didn't want to mention her reasons, "I'm going to choose Kazama!" The girl took out another pokeball to call out her Alakazam before being interrupted by another beam of light coming out of her other pokeball.

"Chinchou!" _Hello! _ A blue fish pokemon with yellow antennas popped out of its capsule happily. The water pokemon bobbed its head and smiled at Mirei.

"Chinchou?" Red's voice made the brunette girl jolt from her spot. "I forgot you had one. Why didn't you use it before?" The Kanto champion hardly spoke during the match. Hearing his voice coming out of the blue surprised her.

"Chouko can't battle!" She argued, "It doesn't know any good moves!"

"Have you ever used her in battle?" The raven haired trainer cocked his head to the side. Mirei wondered how on earth he knew Chinchou's gender. With Chiharu, it made sense since she was studying to be a pokemon professor. How did Red figure it out?

"No." She watched Chinchou hop to the Poliwrath and lit up its antennas with sparks flying out. Poliwrath's glare at the pokemon sent the angler pokemon running back to Mirei and hid behind the girl's legs. "How can this thing fight that?" She pointed at the big water pokemon across her. Red sighed and took out his Pokedex and showed it to the girl. The lit up screen read 'Chinchou's attack: Surf, Spark, Confuse Ray, Thunder Wave'. _Where did he get that from? _Mirei thought. "Chouko, Spark!"

Chinchou trembled behind the girl's leg, but stepped forward and hopped towards the tadpole pokemon with its antennas glowing. The angler pokemon freaked out when it saw Poliwrath charging towards it. Poliwrath threw its body towards Chinchou and nearly knocked its balance out. Chinchou avoided Poliwrath's second Body Slam and threw its antennas against Poliwrath's skin and shocked the pokemon. Poliwrath's body jolted from the super effective attack and fell down from Chinchou's offensive move.

"Poli...wrath..." _Can't...move... _ Poliwrath groaned, "Poli, poliwrath." _Dude, not cool. _ He reached out an arm to Chinchou, who carefully stood far from the attacking pokemon.

"Chinchou, chou, chin!" _I might win this time! _ Chinchou squeaked. "Chinchou, chou, chou!" _I might prove to her I'm strong! _ The pokemon got excited and hopped around the floor with excitement, not noticing the angry Poliwrath glaring at it.

"Poliwrath!" His trainer cried out. The pokemon tried to get up from the attack, but its limb has grown stiff from the electric attack. Poliwrath was paralyzed and discovered that it needed more effort to pick itself up. "Take the pain for now and Focus Punch Chinchou." Against his own rules of using status healing items against beginner trainers, Shijima didn't bring Full Heals with him. It was against his principles as these trainers were still learning the basics. He also enjoyed the challenge of fighting without the advantage of items.

"I think you should confus-" The Kanto champion was about to say when he was interrupted by the water pokemon's impatient trainer.

"Chouko use Spark!" Mirei was surprised that the pokemon could learn an electric attack. The angler pokemon ran to Poliwrath again and shocked the tadpole pokemon before the fighting type hurled Chinchou into the air with Focus Punch. Chinchou's eyes turned into small x's and fainted from the strong attack.

"Poliwrath!" _It's over! _ The tired pokemon stretched its stiff limbs with droopy eyes.

"Chinchou is unable to battle!" The referee announced.

"...Please don't tell me you never actually used your Chinchou in a battle before..." He asked as he took another peek at his Pokedex. The angler pokemon was only level twenty, and compared to the level thirty one tadpole pokemon. The level difference was great, especially when the pokemon were low leveled.

"And if I didn't..?" Mirei cautiously asked as she slowly turned her head around. Red's sigh of disappointment was quiet, but it rang through her ears like a firework that had blasted out from its cylinder when she was standing right next to it. "Leo, go finish him with Magical Leaf..." Mirei took out her next pokemon. Her Leafeon jumped out of his pokeball and landed gracefully on his fours.

"You had a Leafeon all this time, and you didn't decide to use him till now..?" His voice slowly becoming incredulous.

"Leafeon, feon!" _Time to show you my moves!_ Leo cried, unaware of his trainer being uncharacteristically quiet. The grass type summoned a storm of leaves darting for Poliwrath. The floating leaves had a purple aura and cut the water pokemon's health down to zero. The water pokemon's eyes widened from the super effective move and fainted.

"Poliwrath is unable to battle!" The referee shouted, "And the victory goes to the challenger!" He pulled up a flag on Mirei's side.

"Leafeon, eon, leaf!" _That was fun! _ Leafeon shouted over the referee, "Leafeon, leaf, eon!" _Wish we could do this more often!_ The grass pokemon jumped in the air.

"Well, isn't that something!" The gym leader proclaimed, "What a battle that was!" He laughed and walked over to the girl to hand her the badge. The bronze colored badge was round with two circles to symbolize a simplified version of a person's fist. "This is the Storm Badge!" Shijima announced proudly, "It allows you to use the HM Fly, which reminds me..." The chubby gym leader took out two CD's from his loose pocket and handed it to the challenger, "This is HM02 and TM 01, the attacks Fly and Focus Punch. Good for traveling around and fighting against slow enemies."

"Thanks, I guess..." Mirei accepted the prize from the gym leader.

"You're Shijima?" Red asked the gym leader.

"Why if it isn't Red!" The jolly man laughed, "Yes, that is me. Is there something you want to ask?" His belly jiggled as the gym leader chuckled in tune with his words.

"Your city is near the Whirl Island," the champion whispered. "Have you heard or seen anything suspicious lately?"

"Nope! This place hasn't changed one bit." The man replied, "Are you here to see the Pokemon Safari Zone?" He asked excitedly, eager to see more tourists coming to his city.

Red shook his head, "No, we're simply here in search of something..."

"Hm," the man rubbed his mustache. "You can check around the beach if you want. Maybe you'll find something there."

"Maybe," Red agreed. He turned around, "Let's go." He checked his Pokegear. It was late noon. Green agreed with him that if he and Chiharu didn't show up after nine that night, something was up and that Red could call him. His Pikachu was rubbing his belly with a sad expression on his face. They haven't eaten since they left the Pokemon Center that morning.

"Yeah..." Mirei followed him behind.

* * *

Pokemon Center - Safari Zone

"That's the last one," Chiharu sighed in relief as she transported the last pokeball into the PC. She turned off the computer with a push of a button and wiped her brow.

Green and Chiharu separated from Red and Mirei when it was only six o'clock in the morning. Chiharu was normally not a morning person, but her persistence of catching pokemon somehow woke her up on time and didn't knock out the alarm clock in the process. After walking through the city and through the Safari Zone's entrance, she and the gym leader switched to their bikes and biked through the long routes leading to the Safari Zone. By the time they arrived to the Safari Zone, it was already late morning, almost noon. The two of them had a quick lunch before heading to the Safari Zone itself. Dragging a reluctant gym leader with her, Chiharu ran through the Safari Zone and used up all of the thirty pokeballs the Safari Zone handed to all of their customers. They were now in the Pokemon Center where Chiharu had to manually store her caught pokemon in the PC.

"Does Keigo really take care of all these pokemon..?" The gym leader stared at the machine with a dumbstruck expression.

"I don't want them to be inside the PC for the rest of their lives," Chiharu said. "It seems unfair to let them be caught and then never come out."

"But, you have so many pokemon... How do you even keep track of them all?"

"I keep a journal and I have my Pokegear," she took out a blue composition book with a long list of her captures. "I don't have a Pokedex, so this will have to do. Besides, I wish I could give them better homes, but I don't have enough room for all of them to be outside at once. I want to move out to a bigger area as soon as I can so they can roam freely."

"If you can afford a large plot of land..." He asked, "Why do you keep catching more?"

"I want to become a professor. I want to see how their personalities are in battles and in their nature." Chiharu said, "I already released some of the pokemon I catch once I finish researching on them, but then I feel guilty of how they look at me..."

"It's true!" A loud voice arose from a crowd of people in the Pokemon Center. "I saw a building as big as a Wailord! It was standing near the cliffs, not too far from here!" Green turned to see a hiker trainer talking to a group of other trainers. "I walked inside and saw these weird lines on the floor. It reminds me of that time I traveled to Hoenn with my wife and son, pretty place you know..."

"What is he talking about?" Chiharu asked Green. The gym leader shrugged.

"I think it's our next clue, excuse me sir!" Green called out to the chubby middle aged man and asked with interest, "What kind of building did you see?" The green eyed trainer walked closer to the man. The hiker wore a vest over his hiking gear and had his hat sitting on the table he was sitting at.

"Oh, you wouldn't believe it!" The man cried, "Like I said, it was huge! Like a tower!" He took out a piece of paper and showed it to the gym leader, "See this?" His voice was full of excitement, "These are the same lines I saw in that building! Looks like that signs they used in Hoenn for those legendary pokemon they used to worship!" The lines were blue, red, and green in color and were assembled in different patterns.

"Where can you find this tower?" He asked.

"See that side of the cliff?" The hiker asked while pointing at the regional map pinned on the Pokemon Center's wall. "It's located just west of where we are right now. Lots of waterfalls and cliffs, you can't miss it. You will need Rock Climb to get to the tower if you can't fly, as you need to know, the tower is on the top of the cliff, not the bottom."

"What's inside the tower?" Chiharu asked.

"You'll have to find out and see," the hiker laughed. "I showed you those patterns, that's what you see, but it's nothing compared to the actual experience. You want to hear about the time my wife and I went on a hiking trip in Sinnoh? It was a great trip! Lots of rock pokemon and my wife found some plants to bring back home for our bonsai garden! Our son found a few flying pokemon too..."

"I'm sure it was a great trip," Green said in a rush. "But we need to get back." The gym leader took Chiharu by the hand and pulled her towards the exit. "Thanks for the information!"

"We're going back to Cianwood?" Chiharu said out of surprise. It was only three o'clock with the sun still pouring down on them.

"No," the gym leader took out his pokeball. "We're going to the tower." His Charizard came out of its pokeball and roared. The orange lizard stretched its long wings and created a gust of wind. "You can't Fly yet, right?" He pulled her up on Charizard's back, "Hold on tight," he warned her. "I never been there before, but the hiker's direction should be enough that we can find it." The fire pokemon breathe a long shot of fire. "Let's go."

* * *

Cianwood City Beach

"Haaaaa, isn't the beach nice Silver?" A loud yawn contently rolled out of a raven haired teen's mouth. The teenager was lying down on the sand with his eyes closed. A few of his other pokemon were out of their pokeballs enjoying the sun's rays. His Typhlosion's fire on its back was ablaze from the high temperature.

"Now isn't the time to relax idiot," the red head chastised. "Red and Green messaged us that they were already here, so shouldn't we be looking for them..?" The trainer checked his Pokegear again for any messages he missed. The Pokegear was an updated version of the one he was using since the beginning of his pokemon journey. He finally got the new version of the Pokegear after his older one broke from an accident. It was odd getting used to a device that had a touch screen. Silver gazed at the ocean ahead of where the beach was with distant eyes.

"Dude, we just got here. Chill, will you?" Gold stuck his tongue at his rival as he laid himself out on the sand. "We don't get to go to the beach much you know?"

"There is one in New Bark Town."

Full of water pokemon if one came there at night. He remembered having to stay there all night with Crystal when the professor assigned them on observing New Bark Town's residential pokemon. New Bark Town's beach was perhaps one fourth the size of Cianwood City's beach. There wasn't as much variety in pokemon to look at. After seeing the twentieth Shellder coming out of the water, the redhead drift to sleep with Crystal trying to figure out whether to take him back to the professor's house or to let him be. In the end, the pokemon professor arrived to the beach the next morning to find both of his lab assistants asleep. Crystal was leaning on Silver's shoulder with her sketchbook still in between her legs with her pen slid behind her ear.

"But does New Bark Town have this quality sand? Is it next to the ocean?"

"Actually, it is." Silver groaned, listening to the teen's antics.

"What? It isn't!" the Johto champion argued.

"You're the top student at our school, there is no way that you don't know this," he snapped, growing more impatient with each word that came out of his friend's mouth.

"Huh, maybe skipping two trimesters instead of the usual one is starting to have an effect on my brain," the golden eyed trainer stared up at the sky with a straight face. "Hey, can you check my brain to see if it's fried yet?"

Before Silver could make a comeback at his statement, his grey Pokegear ran a familiar tune. The redhead groaned and opened the electronic device to see what happened. 'Text message', the Pokegear's screen flashed at his grey eyes. Silver tapped on the device's surface and read the message. It was from Red. The words were written in mostly hiragana and a few basic kanji. The grammar was rather sloppy and unprofessional compared to the notes Silver had to read from the pokemon professor.

"Red said Green is busy looking for something," Silver said in a quiet voice. "According to him, Green should be back sometime tonight. Maybe."

"Well then, chilling on the beach is alright then!" Gold concluded.

"If Crystal was here, she would have knocked you on the side," Gold's former rival groaned and rubbed his head. "This heat is getting on my nerves." Silver took off his black jacket and only had his black shirt and pants on.

"Says the guy who wears all black in the summer." The gold eyed trainer stuck out his tongue childishly, "Where's Crystal anyway?" He glared around the beach for the blue haired girl. "Didn't she say she was looking for someone?"

"Worried that she's not paying attention to your stupidity?" Silver smirked at the thought of Crystal getting angry over Gold's relax attitude. It was sometimes hard to believe that the two of them were childhood friends. Their personalities clashed at times with Gold picking on Crystal for being a crybaby and her picking on him for making dumb mistakes.

"Hey, I'm perfectly okay with not getting a fist to the face," he replied with a wide grin. "It's been awhile since we actually took some time to just hang out. When was the last time we went to visit Wataru or even go feast at that one barbeque place in Goldenrod? Huh, we haven't gone there in ages."

"I guess it's the work," Silver admitted. "The professor always chooses to give us his stuff at the last minute." The professor would too happily throw a big stack of paperwork and research papers on Silver and Crystal's desk with a chorus of thank-yous to the two annoyed teens.

"I think that's because you and Crystal are workaholics," he snorted. "Even the professor thinks it okay because you two don't seem to have a life outside of work and school."

"Besides, even if it wasn't for work and school, his son always asks me to take him to the park because his dad forgets to." His son was turning nine soon and Silver always worried that the workaholic professor would one day forget that his wife and son existed. Once the professor got absorbed with his studies, he was stuck in that state for a good few hours. Silver didn't want the kid to go through being forgotten by his father like he did...

"Because you spoil him too much... You would make a great mother."

"I think you mean 'father'..." A vein in his head pulsed at the remark. "Dads can make good parents too." He shook away a nagging thought of his own father.

"Nope, 'mother'. I can't imagine you as father, especially since you refuse to cut your hair anywhere past your shoulders." Gold stated with a completely straight face. "Why do you keep paying the professor? It's not necessary. The professor even lets you stay for free."

"That would be taking advantage of his kindness," Silver argued, but not without giving his rival a decent kick his thighs. "I can't do that. Not after I took his pokemon."

"He even let you keep the pokemon!" The Johto trainer got annoyed and sat up while rubbing his soon-to-be-bruised leg, "He saw that you and his pokemon were happy together! What's the point of paying him? You practically live there! The professor sees you as a second son!"

Although Silver was right in where Gold witnessed the professor stacking piles of paper to Silver and Crystal, he noticed that the professor talked in a gentle tone with Silver, almost in a fatherly way. The professor sometimes let Silver out early whenever Gold walked by the lab. The professor would have a smile plastered onto his face when he saw Silver and his son walking back from the park with his son holding onto a new red balloon. Silver didn't know it, but Gold overheard the professor and his wife talking about paying for Silver's college tuition when the time would come for Silver to leave for a higher education.

"We have been over this before Gold!" He snapped with an annoyed tone.

"And I keep telling you the truth," Gold said. "The professor doesn't see you as a burden. Period."

After Gold became the Johto champion, he saw Silver coming back from the professor with a surprised look on his face. He overheard his rival saying in disbelief that the professor let him keep his Feraligatr. The trainer saw his rival once in Kanto when he was traveling and a few other times in Johto, specifically Dragon's Den on Friday nights. They once had a tag battle against two dragon trainers, both of them having horrible taste in fashion. Let's just say the conversation between the two dragon trainers was...interesting. It usually involved capes and dragons with Gold and Silver interjecting in between to no success.

Gold one day confronted the redhead at Dragon's Den and dragged him unwillingly to New Bark Town, which was very hard to do because it involved capturing him, tying him up with ropes onto his Crobat, and then getting the two to them fly to the town below Blackthorn City. Once they were back in Gold's hometown, Gold pushed his rival into the pokemon lab with Silver wearing terrified look in his eyes. The confused professor listened to Gold's proposal of letting the redhead work for him while Silver protested against the idea of working for the same man he stole from. In the end, the professor let him in and provided a home for the redhead along with an address so he could properly attend school.

"I wonder what happened to him," Silver said quietly, more to himself. Gold barely heard his words. "The last time I saw him, I was yelling at him for being weak." He spat the last word with regret.

"I bet, you'll see him in like, two years and he had become a proper adult in society," the Johto champion guessed, his eyes darkened from the shade his hat provided.

"Heh, what are the chances of that ever happening?" He smirked, though it didn't reach his eyes. "Maybe."

"Even if we did meet Red right now, what are we supposed to do while waiting for Green to come back?" Gold asked, "Talk about how the weather in Mt. Silver was?"

"Why Mt. Silver?"

"Meh, it was the first thing that came to mind..." Gold looked up to see his rival's face. "What? You hate your name that much?"

"It's not the name," Silver tried to explain. "It's the person who gave me that name."

"Sure Silv, whatever you say- OWWW!"

* * *

**Author Notes: **This chapter is shorter than normally because the next section took up too much room, so we had to move it to chapter 15. We promise that there will be a lot of juicy events coming up next chapter. Just a lot of explanations between the characters. Question of the chapter: Which gym leader gave you the hardest time in normal gameplay? Until the next update, see you next time! Remember to R&R!

* * *

**"RainSonata":** I didn't think the next section would take up so much room. The first draft of the story didn't have that many explanations, so I didn't think it would take up so many pages this time.

**"LunarAbyss":** Heh... It is fun to read though ^^"


	16. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

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**Japanese Names: **

Minaki = Eusine

* * *

**Disclaimer: **We do not own pokemon in any shape or form. We only own the OCs and the plot of this fanfiction. This fanfiction is written for entertainment and as stress relievers. Be sure to buy Nintendo's merchandise and support the guys who created pokemon.

* * *

Route 47

"Here we are," Green announced over the high gusting winds.

His Charizard roared in relief as they finally reached for the cliff they were looking for. They landed on the top of the cliff, not too far from the cave's entrance that was only slightly visible to an outsider's eye. If they didn't know what they were looking for, they could have easily missed it. Waterfalls pounded into the ocean that surrounded the few cliffs on route 47. It was a new route discovered by a few curious travelers that was traveled by few as there was nothing out of the ordinary.

"Flying... Is so convenient..." Chiharu sucked in a breath of air. In truth, flying was not at all what she had expected. Half the time, she thought that she was going to lose her grip on the gym leader and plummet to her demise. Chiharu slowly climbed off of Charizard's back and stared at her surroundings. It was so quiet. There was nothing except the sea and the cliffs.

"I hear something..." Green turned his head towards the cave's entrance. He and Chiharu carefully walked to the cave's opening and walked through the short tunnel, trying not to let their footsteps echo inside the entrance. The gym leader leaned his head towards the tower's inside and heard a sound of roars and cries mixed with the sound of waves. "Is that... A Dragonite I hear..? Is Wataru here?"

"The dragon champion?" Chiharu asked behind him. What was the tower's name? The hiker dubbed it the 'Embedded Tower' where the sea, land, and sky meet.

"Kaipyon, Dragon Claw!" Dragonite's trainer cried.

The trainer looked around the same age as Chiharu and had her blue hair tied into pigtails. The girl wore the most ridiculous looking outfit of overall shorts with a red hooded shirt underneath and knee length socks. The white hat she wore was big and fluffy with a red ribbon tied around it. Her yellow bag had a teal colored Pokegear tied around the strap. Her Dragonite was a human sized orange dragon with a beige underbelly and small wings. The goofy dragon wore a happy expression and its wings were green, guiding the dragon pokemon through the air with its claws glowing.

"What... Why is she wearing that in the middle of summer?" Green asked no one in particular. Who wore overalls anymore? He thought of the farmers he sometimes saw in Johto tending to their cattle. The way she wore those overalls didn't say that she was from the farmland. She looked like a city girl.

"Beats me, ask her yourself later," Chiharu replied. Dragonite slashed its glowing claws at its opponent, a man sized yellow pokemon that stood on its legs. The pokemon had a hooked nose and narrow eyes. It had a white mane around its neck and carried a pendulum in one hand.

"Hypno, stand on your guard!" The psychic pokemon's trainer called out. The man looked like he was in his late twenties or early thirties, the same age as Matsuba. He wore a purple tuxedo with diamond patterns on the front with a white cape and gloves. His light brown hair was slicked back with hair gel and he wore a determined look. "Hypnosis!" Hypno rubbed the injured area where the dragon had struck it and leaped forward with its pendulum at hand. The psychic pokemon stared intently into Dragonite's eyes while swinging its pendulum at it.

"Avoid his gaze!" She yelled a second too late. Dragonite began to rock back and forth before finally crashing onto the ground with a loud snore. The trainer recalled her pokemon and tossed another pokeball, "Here's the evidence you wanted." Red light shot out of the pokeball. A tall blue pokemon landed on its fours with its red eyes glaring at the man.

_Minaki... Not you again,_ Suicune groaned. Its violet mane flew in its face as the legendary pokemon tried to avoid the man's gaze. Suicune remembered his trainer telling him that they would meet...that guy again, but the legendary didn't want that to mean meeting him personally. As in having to battle him and dealing with his comments.

"Suicune! My beautiful beast, how are you?" Minaki literally cried out tears of joy before his face suddenly went sour. "Why did you let yourself be recaptured by this brat? It's destiny that we partner up, my dear Suicune!" He swung his arms out, as if to say 'come to me'.

_Ugh, why are you asking me to fight him...?_

"He wanted evidence, didn't he?" The girl in the overalls said, "Go use Ice Beam on Hypno before it gets to you."

"I followed you for months! Years!" The man was in tears, "Why don't you come to me? All that effort I put in this! You don't have to make it so hard!" The man in the cap caught sight of the girl near a city a week ago, riding on the majestic water pokemon's back. They arranged to meet in the tower near the Safari Zone to discuss about the legendary pokemon without having to worry about attracting attention from the public. The sudden appearance of the aurora pokemon would cause havoc and too much attention.

_Distasteful pokemon, and so is his trainer. I rather die a painful death and then be reborn in Sinnoh than to have to work with you for even a second!_ The legendary dog-like pokemon roared as a beam of ice erupted from its mouth. The ice attack hit Hypno squarely in the chest and made the pokemon freeze into a block of ice. Suicune pounced off the frozen pokemon and aimed another Ice Beam at the pokemon before knocking it out. The hypnosis pokemon fell to the ground with swirls in its eyes.

"Why do you have to be so harsh on him...?" Its trainer asked, looking at the legendary pokemon that was usually more carefree and more concern about his looks in other cases. It was safe to say that Suicune usually aimed more for beauty and elegance than battling.

_Years, I spent avoiding this man. You don't understand the depth of his unhealthy obsession. _The pokemon tossed his head in the air, _His taste in clothes is simply atrocious and how long has he been wearing that?_

"Is that, Suicune..?" Green asked as his eyes grew wide in realization.

"Wow... It's beautiful," Chiharu gazed upon the pokemon with awestruck eyes.

_Did someone just call me beautiful?_ The legendary perked up to see the two peeking over from behind a rock. _Indeed my ears did not deceive me. _

"Oh dear, not again..." Its trainer groaned. The girl in the overalls had to stop herself from face palming at her quirky pokemon's behavior.

_Finally! _The aurora pokemon exclaimed, _Someone who appreciates my beauty!_ Suicune pranced over to Chiharu with a smirk, _I am quite gorgeous, don't you agree?_ Its voice echoed in the two newcomers' head.

"Whoa..." Green's hand immediately grasped his head. The sudden intrusion of the legendary's natural abilities left his mind spinning into a headache.

"Sorry about that," She apologized. "It can give you a migraine if you're not used to it. Him talking to you I mean."

"No, that's fine." Chiharu said, thinking of how her Espeon did something similar. She was used to hearing her pokemon's voice in her head now with the occasional embarrassing slip ups.

"Golbat, bat, golbat..." _So the rumors were true... _Chiharu's Golbat was flying silently beside her trainer when they snuck into the tower. "Bat, bat, gol, bat." _The legendary Suicune was said to be a stuck up guy. _ The bat pokemon was nearly the same height as her trainer and didn't appear as surprised as the humans to see the legendary pokemon stand in front of them.

_Stuck up?_ The aurora pokemon gasped, _Why that's absurd!_ It shook its head and said, _You mean graceful and humble! _ Suicune held its head high into the air and replied, _Which pokemon told you that? _

"Golbat, bat, gol, bat, golbat, bat." _Then it must have been a mistake with all those Seel telling me so outside_, was Golbat's dry reply to the quirky pokemon.

_Analyzing Golbat. _Green's Porygon-Z was also with its trainer when Green and Chiharu were inside the ancient tower. _Name: Kera. Detecting sarcasm in subject's statement. Status: Affirmative._ The pokemon talked in robotic voice that was understandable to pokemon and humans alike. Porygon-Z was an odd pokemon where its head was detached from its body, similar in appearance to its pre-evolution Porygon2 and had a blue rounded bill. It had yellow target like eyes and had a pink body with a blue ring on its belly. The blue arms and tail came out of its body and the normal type pokemon was floating in the air.

_Those Seel are just jealous of me, _Suicune chuckled. Its laugh echoed inside of the humans among them. _After all, I was the one who showed them what a real Surf attack looks like, _it held its body up with pride.

"Golbat, bat, golbat..." _You would think a legendary pokemon would take its title more seriously... _The poison type pokemon groaned,

_You can't deny that water pokemon are the best,_ the aurora pokemon smiled.

_Negative,_ Porygon-Z's voice went down an octave. _Normal types are scientifically superior. It says so right here, NORMAL TYPE SUPERIOR. _The virtual pokemon formed a hologram from its lit up eyes with a complex chart popping out with various colors and incomprehensible math equations. Red letters in caps saying: NORMAL TYPES SUPERIOR.

"Bat, bat, bat!" _Poison types can jab you for its worth,_ Golbat argued before turning to Porygon-Z. _That picture was tweaked by you!_ She glared at the virtual pokemon.

"That Suicune belongs to you!" Green was confused. "What is it doing under your possession?"

The brunette man stared at the legendary pokemon, who was still glaring at the man in purple. It was shocking to be so close to a legendary pokemon, a powerful one at that. The last time Green was that close to meeting one was years ago in Victory Road. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time, he woke up the legendary in the cave and was pursued by it for quite some time before finding the exit. By the time he made it to the front of the Indigo Plateau, his clothes had burn marks and he was out of breath. Never again.

"Suicune chose me as its trainer," The teenage girl said in a serious tone. "You look familiar, have I met you before?" She raised a brow at the man. Up close, Green noted that her eyes were a light blue color.

"I'm the gym leader of Viridian City," the tall gym leader said with annoyance. "Green Ookido?" Before she could reply to his statement, Green continued, "You say that Suicune chose you as its trainer. So you claim. Or did you force it against its will and caught it?" He glanced at the legendary and its trainer.

_Why on earth would she do that?_ The legendary beast flipped its long mane to one side. _Of course I had chosen her, I wouldn't choose just anyone. She is far from the average, mediocre trainer. In fact, I believe she is quite excellent if I do say so myself. Studying to become a professor, I don't think I would have chosen anyone else to be able to wield my power. _He said with a rather fond tone.

"Aw, how sweet!" The trainer grinned from ear to ear. The gym leader thought he saw the girl wipe a tear from one eye. Really? Green's eyes narrowed.

_If I am correct, I believe that you are talking about that one young child? The one my brother had chosen? I hope Celebi had managed to escape. _Suicune turned his nose towards the sky. _That pokemon can be quite the stubborn one. Refusing my help, hah! I don't have all the free time in the world!_

"You act like you've known her for years," Chiharu chose her words carefully in the legendary pokemon's presence.

_Celebi? Of course! I come by every few weeks to help clean up her lakes. Humans can be such inconsiderate creatures._

"I meant your trainer..."

Not that she should be the one to judge, but the legendary pokemon seemed to enjoy listening to itself talk. A lot. As Suicune continued to talk, the pokemon paced back and forth on the old floor of the tower. Chiharu realized that the tower had no ceiling with the sun coming down on them. There was a weak pair of stairs crawling up one side of the tower with broken pieces dangling from the end of it. The catcher glanced at the gym leader and saw that he was fidgeting either from being near a legendary or from being unused to telepathy and was having a headache.

_Ah, but I have. _He turned to the blue haired girl. _When did I meet you? Four, five years ago? I'm afraid my memory is quite a blur from constantly running at my top notched speed. Those poor trainers who never understood that travel with the winds can make everything go by so quickly. _

"Five years Suicune," she replied with a sigh, her usual reaction to the pokemon's antics.

_Yes, I love to travel with the winds. _He continued to spout. _I can just feel the air leave trails through my thick mane and glide over my fur. It's a beautiful feeling, though you humans seem too sensitive to weather climates and temperature. I remember Crystal forcing me to stop once because she was becoming a bit too cold._

"So this guy has been chasing you for how long?" Green rubbed the side of his head, unaccustomed to having another being stay in his head for so long. Chiharu's Espeon did the same, but the bond was usually short, nothing compared to Suicune's long speech.

_I don't recall_, Suicune's expression turned into a growl as it refused to even glance at its stalker. _If I wasn't so generous, I would have led him off a cliff by now. _

"Crystal?" The Golbat's trainer repeated, "Is that your name?" Her eyes lit up, "I remember watching you fight the Elite Four a few years ago!"

"It's actually Kotone, but thank you and your name is...?" the trainer chuckled, slightly blushing. She had tried to use her first name more often, but had failed as most people remembered her by her nickname. It also helped that her friends still referred to her as Crystal. Even the teachers at school still called her by her nickname.

"I'm Chiharu," the blue haired trainer introduced herself and cried. "Your Dragonite was so strong! It must have taken you so much time to get it to evolve! I can't believe the champion pulled a trick and had three of them against your team!"

"I? I AM THE GREAT MINAKI. I am the one that Suicune will one day recognize!" The older man blurted out. Green found himself gawking at the man's choice in attire. A purple cape. The suit even shared the same diamond pattern Suicune had. Did the man dress like that on purpose for that reason? Why? What was it with Johto trainers and their weird sense of fashion?

"Um, but we didn't ask you who you were..." Green gave the man an odd look as Minaki posed with one fist over his heart and his head turned far to his right.

"But of course you would ask, so I just introduced myself earlier!" He swung his cape so it looked like the wind blew right through it. "I met Suicune at the same-"

"I caught Suicune in Cerulean City," Crystal answered Chiharu's earlier question. Minaki began to fume as he noticed that no one had their attention on him. "He followed me around Johto and later Kanto."

"He refused to acknowledge the hard work I put into finding him!" Minaki sobbed, "Why can't you see how much we were met to be together, Suicune?" The capped man cried and pointed at the girl in the overalls, "What did you see in her? To follow her all the way to Kanto!"

_Never. Never, ever will I acknowledge you! _The water legendary snarled.

"You're a gym leader," Crystal said. "So you're here because of the legendaries too?" She guessed as if this wasn't the first time the topic was brought up.

"You know what happened to them?" Green asked.

"Entei and Celebi are already gone," she said and took out her Pokedex. The Pokedex was pink and looked similar to Green's. The device was slimmer and had a pokeball symbol on the front that opened up to show the screen with Entei and Celebi's entry. Entei's red dot was gone and was replaced with a red pokeball symbol. The same pokeball symbol appeared with Celebi, although it was green.

_A young child is catching them all. From the sounds of it, I'd say you still haven't had a clue to what she is planning to do. _It was hard to read the water pokemon's expression. It looked like its expression was somewhere between a smile and a look of disapproval. Chiharu watched the aurora pokemon stretch out its four legs with a long sigh. _Ridiculous what this child can do, yet not a single adult in the past couple of centuries had been able to have more than just one in their possession. Both of my brothers are gone. I don't know what happened to the rest of them. I couldn't find father, so I came back to my trainer as it was the safest place to be._

"Father?" Chiharu was puzzled. "You mean to say that you were free before this?"

_My father is Ho-Oh,_ Suicune explained. _I came to Crystal five years ago but she released me shortly after. I came back to her again when I failed to find father. Father always likes to fly around to see the world. A tad boring to stay in one place all the time in my humble opinion. _ The aurora pokemon wore a mysterious expression when he talked about the rainbow pokemon.

"Raikou is gone too?" Green asked in shock. "Doesn't this trainer have an identification number?" The gym leader asked the man who created the PC system a week back and got nothing in response to the disappearance of the legendaries.

"A child you say?" Minaki scoffed. "What is this child going to do with these pokemon? Reenact the Manuscript?"

"She was never registered as a trainer," Chiharu said softly.

"So you know who the legendary hunter is," Crystal wore a troubled expression. The blue haired trainer mumbled. Her eyes averted away from the other trainers and put her thumb under her chin in deep thought. She snapped her head back to Chiharu, "Wait, did you say she?"

"What Manuscript?" Green darted his eyes at Minaki. "What are you talking about?"

"It's just a tale," Minaki sighed. "It's a document that explains how the universe was created. I'm sure most of you have heard of it. It's what that nursery rhyme was based off of. Twenty one or twenty two legendaries assembled together to create a new universe under a new ruler."

"Yeah," Chiharu said. "And it explains each of the pokemon's traits and how it played a part in the world's characteristics. Like how Latios and Latias are men and women. Articuno is death and Moltres is life." She carefully avoided eye contact from the other blue haired girl, who was giving her a hard look.

"Are you avoiding my question?" Crystal questioned. "Did you say that this unregistered trainer is a girl? How is this possible?"

When children become ten years old, they are able to register for their trainer license after taking a national exam. The exam included basic questions of pokemon care and battling. Other parts of the test asked questions concerning survival skills and how to act in emergency situations. It would be foolish to send ten year old children out in the wild without understanding how to take care of oneself or how to care for their pokemon. The trainer license had the child's identification number that would label all of the pokeballs under the child's ownership. Unlabeled pokeballs were disqualified from pokemon leagues and official championships. When a pokemon is caught, it is instantly registered under the trainer's identification number.

"What's up?" Green's gaze slid over to her direction.

"The other day, my friends and I had met the legendary hunter." She spoke up. The gym leader and his companion's eyes grew wide as she continued on. "The trainer had Entei in his possessions. And I am sure that he is a guy."

_I believe you are mistaken,_ The legendary sat down with a yawn. _I'm fairly certain that the child is female. Quite on the thin side too._

"Why would she want to reenact the Manuscript?" Minaki questioned to no one in particular, "Back then, those politicians were foolish and thought that catching enough legendaries would give them more connections and power over the people. It only brought destruction to the land," his eyes narrowed.

"Is this hunter a guy or a girl?" Green pulled at his hair. "Keigo thinks it's her, Chiharu and Mirei know this girl well, and now you're saying he was a guy? I saw the person too, and the person does look like a guy, but then Keigo said it was her. And now even Suicune thinks that this trainer is a girl, so who is this person?"

"So someone is out there to catch the legendaries again," Crystal repeated. "Could this person even know how to perform the ritual? There are hardly any copies left in the world because the government attempted to burn all of the copies."

"I don't know what the Manuscript looks like," Chiharu said slowly. "But I do remember an old scroll in someone's house when I was little." The scroll was yellow from aging with the pieces almost falling apart. "It disappeared when she left."

_A scroll? You humans still use old fashioned written scrolls? Are they not hard to read? I find the writer's handwriting to be, often, infuriating. _

"I believe that it is nearly impossible to read," Minaki recalled. "The scroll uses ancient Japanese that is hardly taught in school anymore and some of the kanji is no longer in modern day use. Deciphering it can take years without the proper knowledge."

"So Matsuba's prophecy was correct again," Chiharu said. "Wait, would Matsuba be able to decipher it...? Maybe his ability can guide him to the knowledge."

"What prophecy?" The capped man turns his head to the girl. "What did he say this time?"

"You know Matsuba?" Chiharu felt uncomfortable from the unwanted attention.

"Know him? I'm friends with him!"

"Then I think you have the right to know then," the Kanto gym leader sighed as he stretched his neck. "Matsuba was attacked three days ago, by a person who owned an Entei."

"What? Are you pulling my leg? There is no way Matsuba would fall to anyone!" Minaki snapped. His previous expression of smugness was replaced with a look of fear, "Matsuba's team is nothing to reckon with!"

"His back and shoulder is badly burnt, probably from a fire blast," he explained. "It was a surprised attack. His back was turned when it happened."

"When did this happen?" Minaki demanded to know. Why didn't he hear anything about this? He struggled to focus on the conversation.

"I just said three days ago!"

"Heh," the Suicune chaser smirked at Crystal. "I thought our meeting could last longer so I could talk about Suicune, but it looks like I'll have to cut that short." He stepped back and looked up at the ceiling less tower, feeling the sun's rays pouring down his face. "They say this tower used to be worshiped by people from another region. If an object from that region was brought to this tower, they said enlightenment would occur."

As he said those words, Chiharu looked down at the floor to see that the floor was glowing with different patterns of symbols the whole time. Just like the hiker back in the Safari Zone said. The patterns switched from red to blue to green and back to red again. It was mesmerizing to stare at. Despite the glowing patterns being there, it felt like something was missing. It felt like an incomplete puzzle. It was almost done but there were still a few pieces left.

"What...?" It was Crystal this time that looked at the man with confusion.

"Well, NOW I AM OFF! Good bye to you all and Suicune! I swear we shall meet again in due time!" He shouted before he raced out of the building, his cape tailing behind him. They heard the sound of a pokeball opening to release its inhabitant. With the pokemon's cries and the sound of flapping wings fading away, it was assured that the man was leaving for another destination.

_Don't count on it. _

"I better get back to my friends," she sighed. "Gotta update them on the situation. We may see each other again." She leaped onto the water pokemon's back, who had stood back onto its four legs. "Have a good day!" The gym leader and blue haired girl watched Crystal's Suicune dash out of the abandoned tower and heard it crash into the waters below.

"To stop that hunter from catching more legendaries," Green said when she left. "We'll have to catch them ourselves."

"What?" Chiharu was startled from his voice.

"She has Suicune, so now the hunter can't get him. It's quite simple actually."

"What is so simple about catching legendaries?" She questioned his logic. "Legendaries are dangerous, and they are very strong. You can't just proclaim that we should catch them too, I mean, my pokemon aren't even high leveled!"

Due to pokemon thievery in the past, pokemon are registered under the pokeball's individual bar code and trainer's identification number. This is so that even if another person stole the trainer's pokeballs and attempted to catch that pokemon, the catch would still not work. When attempting to catch other people's pokemon, the pokeball recognizes that the pokemon's number combination doesn't match the barcode and trainer id of the pokemon thief. The pokeball would instantly break in response to the mismatch codes to avoid repeated stealing attempts. If the pokemon's pokeball breaks, it is required for the trainer to go through paperwork to get a replacement pokeball.

"That's fine," Green tried to reassure the girl. "We all have to start out somewhere. With some time and training, you'll be strong in no time."

"It's still very dangerous! When, when I saw Satsuki that night," she choked. "She had blood running down her arm. It was practically flowing out of her, bright red blood!"

"I never said it was easy," he corrected her. "Nothing in life is easy."

"That's true," she said. "You really think it's possible for me and Mirei to become strong in so little time?" Training was never a first priority for her as she preferred catching and research pokemon, but for the first time in years, she felt an urgency to make her team stronger.

"If she can catch legendaries, then I'm sure you and your friend would be able to too." He reasoned.

"I'll make sure they go back to their homes when this is over," Chiharu said in a quiet voice, looking away from Green. "It's better if they go back and forget this ever happened."

"When this mess is over," the gym leader shook his head. "We can release them ourselves."

Trainers must release their pokemon only by PC. They used to release them manually, but that caused some environmental issues in the past. A well known incident occurred a few years ago when a young trainer released his Slugma in Viridian Forest and caused a forest fire. It took a team of firefighters and several teams of water pokemon to put out the fire. Unfortunately for the trainer, his trainer license was taken away. This was an odd case because most legendaries didn't have a permanent habitat. Some of them wandered the regions with no home. Releasing a legendary by PC may get complicated, especially when the main server finds that a legendary pokemon was residing in the computer.

"We should go back," Chiharu looked up at the sky. The sky was turning red and gold with a few clouds hovering around the sun.

"It's almost time six," the gym leader checked his Pokegear. "I suppose there's nothing else we can do much here."

So much for finding the tower. They found Embedded Tower, only to discover that it was an old building with glowing patterns. Green didn't know what to suspect. The patterns on the floor reminded the gym leader of a place he had once been to in Hoenn, years ago. Was there more to the tower than just a place of worship? These questions left the gym leader puzzled. Although they found nothing in the tower, talking to that Minaki character revealed more about this Manuscript. A nearly nonexistence document talking about the creation of a new universe. Green had a bad feeling about this.

* * *

Route 47

"Gold, I swear," A tall red haired teen clenched his fists. He stood before a large, thickly branched tree with a ton of leaves falling unnaturally. His tone was low and dark, as if poisoning each of his words with malice. "If you don't stop harassing that Fearow, before it finally decides to pecks your eyes out, I'm going to tie you up and toss you into the water at Route 41."

"Geez Silver, why are you so agitated?" The golden eyed trainer asked, poking his head out of the leaves upside down. He hung from the lower thicker branches of the plant, making even more leaves flutter towards the ground. His hat slipped off of his head and landed square onto its owner's rival's forehead.

The two of them were on route 47 on top of the waterfall. Despite the great distance between Cianwood City and the route, Gold had been to the Safari Zone before and flew there on his pokemon. Silver followed him closely behind. At the top of the waterfall were several trees and bushes where most of the pokemon were Dittos and Miltanks. The cows would roll on the floor lazily as they watched the two trainers argue. A few other pokemon included Glooms and Raticates, both scurrying quietly in the grass to find food.

A vein pulsed in his head as he answered, "You're here, bothering a giant bird pokemon, when we should be checking the whereabouts and well being of the roaming legendary pokemon. Why would I not be annoyed?"

"I mean, I don't know why, but it seems like you're trying to get too much done when there isn't much we can do right now. You switched from looking for Red and Green to trying to find Lugia and Ho-Oh in like a snap second," Gold tilted his head to his right. "What's up? Oh, and thank you for your concern, but this Fearow is quite playful." As if it was a cue, a large feathered head poked out from the tree, next to the trainer.

_Hello there!_ It cawed with a happy expression. The beak pokemon swung its head side to side, as if to say that it was having fun.

"I can't shake a bad feeling in my stomach," Silver admitted. "Like there is something obvious right in front of us but we don't notice it."

"Are you constipated Silv?" He asked. A rock smashed right into face before he could say another word. Gold's legs lost their grip as he fell flat onto the grass below his head.

Silver's eyes snapped wide open in alarm. He rushed over to his fallen rival and asked, "Shit, I didn't think you would fall, are you okay?"

"Silver," the Johto champion breathed out. His voice barely a whisper. "Come closer..."

"Wait, what's wrong?"

"Closer..." he repeated. Silver leaned over to hear his friend's words. "You're so naive."

Without warning Gold snapped up leaned close to his ear, almost touching it and made a loud kissing sound with his lips puckered up. The redhead's face burned as bright as his hair as the supposedly injured Gold added in a normal tone, "I swear, I could have totally kissed you just now. You were just asking for it-"

The champion was flung into the river with an obnoxiously loud splash. Gold hit the cold icy water and threw his head up above the roaring waves. His eyes shot out as he narrowly swam to the side when he saw a Tentacool nearly hit him with its tentacles. The big blue jellyfish pokemon stood about a meter tall and had two long tentacles stretched out from its clear body. It had red crystals on its head and had its eyes below its body.

"I am going to kill you one day," His rival hissed, his face still bright red.

"Nyotaro!" Gold gagged on some water as he took out a pokeball and released his pokemon. Still in the river, Gold's pokemon caught his trainer on time as they approached the waterfall crashing down below. Politoed hopped in the water and dragged his trainer down the waterfall at surprisingly high speed. The green frog pokemon had a yellow belly and a blue curl on its head allowed Gold to hug around the body.

The gold eyed trainer held his breath and closed his eyes when he and his pokemon fell to the bottom of the running water with a crash. Luckily for him, there were no rocks or boulders at the bottom. Politoed bobbed its head and body to the water surface with Gold coughing out some water. When he finished clearing his throat, he thought he heard a gasp when he looked up to see who it was. A blue haired teenage girl who looked to be the same age (1) as him wore a white short sleeved hoodie with red pokeball symbols on the pockets and shorts. She was riding on the back of a Golduck, who was giving Gold a skeptical look.

"Am I in Heaven?"

"Um, no. You're alive, why would you say that?" The girl gave him a strange look. Her other pokemon, a Golbat, was making an annoyed sound and glared at him. The bat pokemon reminded him of Silver's Crobat, although Golbat seemed to have a shorter temper than Silver's.

"Then, you saved me right?"

"No..." She looked uncomfortable from the unwanted attention. "Are you alright?" Gold thought he heard both of her pokemon sigh from the interaction between the two of them.

"You're just so beautiful... I asked if I was in Heaven, because I was hoping that you were my Guardian Angel." He smiled brightly as if he saw the sun for the first time in years. His hair was drenched wet from the water, making his hair point out in different direction, similar to a certain trainer in Kanto. Drops of water dripped from his face like he was crying though his eyes were not anywhere near the shades of red.

"You're drunk," was her flat response to his poor pick up line. She had one hand on her hip with the other hand holding onto her Golduck's shoulder. The blue duck idly tread in the somewhat shallow water while Golbat floated in the air with a bored look.

"...but I'm underage." He stated, the smile twitching downwards.

"You look like those guys who pick up a different girl once a week," she gave him a blank unimpressed look as if this wasn't the first time this happened to her. Those class periods she spent trying to listen to the teachers were often interrupted by those guys in the back asking her out because of a bet of some kind. She had learned to ignore boys like them. The guy behind her choked out a cough.

"Eh? If it makes you feel better, I haven't dated anyone before," he replied.

"Sure you haven't." She snorted as her companion walked up to the two.

"Hey, aren't you Hibiki?" The tall brunette asked. His green irises glimmered from the sunset. "It's been awhile. The last time I saw you, you made me take a picture with you after fighting against him. (2)"

"Hey, it's been a long time Green!" Gold perked up as he rolled over and pushed himself off the ground. "How's life? Silv and I were looking for you and Red earlier, but then Red sent us a message saying that you were looking for something. Did you find what you were looking for?"

"No, but we did add more questions to this entire ordeal," the gym leader sighed.

"Hibiki?" The girl repeated his name, "So you're the one we were supposed to meet up with?"

"Ugh, please don't call me that," he groaned. He placed his hand on his chest. "Gold, call me Gold. I prefer my nickname over my real name."

"Like the Super Sentai?" Her eyes widened, "My name's Chiharu then. Um, sorry for acting cold like that to you. I thought you were one of those jerks I see at school a lot." The blue haired girl turned red from embarrassment and shook his hand briefly before pulling her hand back.

"You know Super Sentai?" His grin grew from ear to ear. "I used to role-play as Gold Ranger with some other kids in my hometown! He is so cool, I'm not afraid of admitting that I still love that show at my age." The teenage boy proudly boasted his obsession with a smirk.

"Of course!" Chiharu cried, "I role-played Blue Ranger as a kid because blue is my favorite color!" Her eyes were practically sparkling with stars and hearts flying out. "I watch it every weekend in the morning with my brother! My brother likes watching the newer ones because of the shiny mechas and suits, but I think the older series are cool too!"

"You're both otaku..?" Green's expression dropped as he listened to the two treat the show like it was a bible.

"The older shows had good story," Gold ranted on. "But the characters could use more development! I think it's unfair that the shows only have one or two female rangers for each season." The dark haired boy nodded his head.

"Same! Though I think it's because the market thinks that Super Sentai is mostly for boys. There are girls who like it too!" The two teenagers were now on fire and exchanged complaints and compliments of this superhero show Green had no knowledge or interest about. All he could hear from them were 'this ranger' and 'that ranger' with the occasional mention of 'mechas' and 'power ups'.

"I come down here to check on you, and I find this?" Silver asked with a questionable look on his face. He flew down with his own Crobat, concerned because his rival didn't come back up the waterfall.

"Hey! Silver, man, what took you so long?" Gold laughed. The redhead watched as water continued to drip down his hair.

"You idiot, how long are you going to let yourself soak? You're asking to get a cold!"

"Aw, you do care!" The Johto champion's eyes sparkled with relief. "I was thinking that you threw me down into the river because you never wanted to see me again!"

"If I hadn't known you for long, I would have already left to go back to Cianwood." He growled as he launched a towel into his rival's face. The champion caught it with ease and started drying his hair.

"So you're...Silver?" Chiharu recalled the other name Red mentioned to her this morning. She looked at the trainer who had long red hair and wore a dark purple outfit, "Why are you wearing dark clothes in July? Wouldn't shorts be better for this weather?"

The teenage girl just stared as Gold coughed back a snicker. He managed to choke out, "Yes Silver, why aren't you wearing _skirts_ or shorts in this summer heat? They're nice and comfy to wear."

"Shut up you fool!" Silver snarled as he slammed his rival back into the water. He twirled around to face Chiharu. "For your information, I AM A GUY. What I choose to wear is none of your concern and don't you dare mock my hair!"

Chiharu froze, unable to say anything more than a, "I'm sorry..." If it was even possible, her face went to a deep shade of red and struggled to keep a controlled expression. She turned her eyes down and avoided the redhead's eye contact.

"Silver! How could you? I thought that we had something between us. Why did you push me back into this river?"

"You really want to die today, don't you?" The redhead's hair seemed to flare up as his eyes glowed with a monstrous and dangerous aura.

_I'm glad I didn't say anything yet_, Green thought to himself as he watched the teen drag his rival out of the water and gave him a nice punch to his face. He saw Chiharu shrink, as if she wanted to dig a hole and die in it. The gym leader glared at his Pokegear and switched to the weather app. The device told him that the temperature in Goldenrod was 33 Celsius or higher (3) with the humidity over 70 percent in the afternoon. He found himself doubting the angry trainer's choice in clothing as well.

"Wait, didn't you only say shorts?" he asked her. He traced back to the comment Chiharu made a few seconds ago and realized, "Why did he get so mad?"

"Well, Gold did add skirts..." She mumbled more to herself than to him.

"Maybe today is just a bad day for him overall. Gold is known to push people off the edge." He sighed and shook his head.

Green already knew part of his personality before they even had a proper battle. Gold may have treated his pokemon kindly, but his interaction with other trainers was a whole different story. The gym leader remembered the teenage boy angering one of the ace trainers on his way to the gym leader. A female ace trainer hurled an Everstone at Gold and resulted in the trainer arriving with a bump on his head. Green was shocked to see that the boy from New Bark Town still had that same Everstone in his possession when they had a rematch later on. Gold threw him a grin and said that the Everstone was a 'souvenir' with Green staring at him like he was insane.

"Anyways," Gold cleared his throat, his left cheek as red as the clouds during sunset. His rival silently fumed off in the distance, facing the river while his Crobat tried to cheer him up. "I thought we were going meet up in Cianwood. Is Red there?"

"Yeah, he is waiting at the Pokemon Center. We should get going." Green gazed up at the high mountains surrounding them, "We shouldn't keep them waiting."

* * *

Extra Notes:

**age (1)** = In case you're still lost on how old everyone is, here are their ages. Red, Green, Blue = 19 years old. Gold, Silver, Crystal, Chiharu, Mirei = 16 years old. Satsuki = 15 years old. Keigo = 13 years old.

**...take a picture with you after fighting against him. (2)** = This actually happens in Pokemon HGSS. After you defeat Red, you can take a picture with Green (or Blue as he is called in the English games) at Cinnabar Island. Green genuinely shows happiness for your accomplishment and will gladly rebattle you if you call him on the Pokegear.

**temperature in Goldenrod was over 33 Celsius (3)** = For those who use Fahrenheit, that is over 91 degrees. The temperature is based off Osaka's weather because Goldenrod City in Johto was based off of Osaka, Japan.

* * *

**Author Notes:** We had this chapter be the end of chapter 14, but we found that it took up too much room and had to move it to this chapter instead. There is a lot of talking in this section, but we get to find out more about the legendary hunter and we learn about this mysterious Manuscript. Seriously, who wears dark clothes in the July? If you like this story, leave a comment below and follow us!

* * *

**"RainSonata": **I was told that Japan had very humid summers. After looking up the weather from several websites, I no longer doubt that. I'm wondering how so many NPCs got away with wearing what they wear in certain weather (ex. The female protagonist wears nothing but a shirt and shorts in the winter for Pokemon Black and White).

**"LunarAbyss": **Actually, I used to wear black jackets and dark clothing all the time. Especially in the summer. I'm the type of person to sunburn rather than overheat, and my wardrobe is full of black, silver, and darker colors.


End file.
